
(o^f 



{jlass _ 



/ 



THIRTEEN 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSES, 



ON THE COMPLETION OF 



TWO HUNDRED YEARS, FROM THE BEGINNING 



FIRST CHURCH IN NEW HAVEN, 



WITH AN APPENDIX. 



BY LEONARD BACON, 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN MOW HAVEN. 



" Ye temples, that to God 
Rise where the fathers trod, 

Guard well your trust, 
The truth that made them free, 
The faith that Jar'd the sea, 
Their cherish'd purity, 

Their garner'd dust." 



NEW HAVEN: 

PUBLISHED BY DUKllIE »fc PECK 

NEW YORK : 

GOULD, NEWMAN & SAXTON. 

1839. 






..V ■' i-"- 



Entered, according to act of Congress, in tlie year 1839, 

By Leonard Bacon, 
In the Clerk's office of the District Court of Connecticut. 



Trinted by B. L. Hamlen. 



.f 



PREFACE. 



The completion of two hundred years from the settlement 
of the town and colony of New Haven, was celebrated with 
appropriate religious and civic observances, on the 25th of 
April, 1838. As the Church with which I am connected as 
pastor, is coeval with the colony, and was indeed the parent 
of the civil state, it seemed proper for me to notice in the 
pulpit an occasion so interesting. In compliance therefore 
with the expressed desires of many without, as well as within, 
the circle of my pastoral charge, I undertook to prepare one 
or more discourses illustrative of our ecclesiastical history, 
little thinking of such a volume as this. But as I proceeded, 
from one Sabbath evening to another, I found the materials 
so abundant, and the expressions- of interest on the part of 
the hearers were so strong, that my discourses, instead of 
being, according to my first expectation, three or four, be- 
came thirteen. 

The interest, not to say the value, of history, depends 
chiefly upon details. I might have summed up the history 
of this Church in a few paragraphs ; but in that form it 
would have been dry and unprofitable. Need I, then, apol- 
ogize, for the minuteness of this history ? Why may not 
the 'annals of a parish' be as lively with illustrations of 
human nature, and as rich in important practical lessons, as 
the annals of an empire ? ^ 

If in speaking of the fathers of New England, and par- 
ticularly of New Haven, I have insisted more on their vir- 
tues than on their faults and errors, it is partly because while 



IV PREFACE. 

their faults have been often and sufficiently blazoned, their 
virtues have been, to the popular mind, but imperfectly il- 
lustrated ; and partly because we in this age are far more 
likely to forget their virtues, than to adopt their errors, or to 
imitate their faults. If I have spoken freely of the secular 
constitution of the Church of England, and of the evils^ re- 
sulting from it which made our fathers exiles, it is no more 
than becomes a man and an American ; and the candid 
reader will observe, that in so doing, I have not spoken at 
all of the Episcopal Church as it is organized in this coun- 
try. I am far from imputing to American bishops, chosen 
by the people of their charge, and responsible to those who 
choose them, the sins of English prelates under the Stuarts. 
A man might even believe that Laud deserved to die on the 
scaffold as a traitor to the liberties of England, and yet think 
none the worse of Bishop White. 

Historical Discourses, even though prefaced with a text of 
Scripture, are not sermons, and ought not to be judged as if 
they were. If the reader finds words or passages unsuited 
to the gravity of the pulpit, he may be reminded that the 
printed book is not exactly what was uttered in the congre- 
gation. More than half the volume has been written since 
the last of the discourses was delivered ; and though the 
original form has been retained, the expression has frequently 
been changed, and the didactic and religious reflections, ap- 
propriate to the time and place, have been generally omitted. 

The sources from which I have derived my information, 
are generally referred to in marginal notes. Yet in this place 
some more distinct acknowledgment seems due to those, by 
whose labors so much has been done to illustrate the early 
history of New England. But why should I speak of the 
many occasional discourses which have treated of the his- 
tory of particular towns or Churches, or of the more stately 
and elaborate works of Trumbull, Holmes, and Hutchinson ? 
To name the thirty seven volumes of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society ; the notes on Morton's Memorial by Judge 
Davis ] the accurate transcript of Winthrop's History, by Mr. 



PREFACE. 



Savage, with the vast and various lore in the notes of the 
transcriber, is to praise them : without these works as exam- 
ples of what diligence can do, as guides showing how such 
investigations are to be conducted, and as sources of infor- 
mation, I should have done nothing. And in naming the 
last of these works, I am reminded of my obligations to the 
first editor of Winthrop. The perusal and reperusal of 
" Winthrop's Journal," together with the study of Trumbull's 
first volume, made me feel when I was yet a boy, that the 
New England race " is sprung of earth's best blood." And 
knowing as I now know, under what disadvantages that first 
edition was published, before the public had begun to be in- 
terested in such documents, before even Massachusetts had a 
historical society, by the unaided enterprise of a young man 
to whom the undertaking was attended with heavy pecu- 
niary sacrifices ; and knowing how much historical inquiries 
in New England have been stimulated and aided by that 
publication ; I cannot but regard it as not among the least of 
the many debts of American literature to the now venerable 
lexicographer. Mr. Savage's more perfect and more fortunate 
edition, the fruit of years of learned toil, cheered by the co- 
operation of enthusiastic antiquaries, aided by appropriations 
from the treasury of a generous commonwealth, and greeted 
by an applauding public that had already learned to honor 
its ancestry, needed not the poor recommendation of dispar- 
aging censures upon its predecessor. 

I must be allowed to add my acknowledgment of the aid 
which I have received in these studies, from the learning and 
kindness of Professor Kingsley. Certainly it was a rare priv- 
ilege, to be able to avail myself continually of hints and 
counsels, from one so familiar with the written and unwritten 
history of New England, and especially of Connecticut. 

Some of my friends have expressed a little impatience at 
the delay of this publication. The mere magnitude of the 
volume will probably be to them a sufficient apology for the 
delay. Had I been told twelve months ago, that within a 
year I should prepare and publish such a volume, gathering 



VI PREFACE, 

the materials from so many difTerent sources, few of which 
I had at that time even explored, I should have smiled at 
the extravagance of the prediction. Yet the work has been 
done, and that in the midst of public labors and domestic 
cares. 

And now in dismissing the last page of a work which 
with all the fatigues and midnight vigils it has cost me, has 
been continually pleasant, I desire to record my thanks to 
the divine providence which has permitted me to begin and 
finish this humble memorial. May He who hath said that 
the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance, accept 
the unworthy service. 

New Haven, February, 18'W. 



CONTENTS. 



DISCOURSE I. 

Page. 
Causes of the colonization of New England.— The spirit of the first 

planters, ..------1 

DISCOURSE II. 

The foundations laid in Church and Commonwealth.— Constitution 

formed in Mr. Newman's barn. — The Puritans, - - - 17 

DISCOURSE III. 

Ecclesiastical forms and usages of the first age in New England, - 39 

DISCOURSE IV. 

Specimens of Puritan ministers in the New Haven colony. Prudden, 

Sherman, James, Eaton, Hooke, ----- 55 

DISCOURSE V. 

John Davenport in England, in Holland, and in the New England 

synod of 1637, 75 

DISCOURSE VI. 

John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton the founders of anew republic : 

vicissitudes in New Haven till 1G60, . . . . 'M 

DISCOURSE VII. 

John Davenport in his old age, the protector of the regicides, the op- 
ponent of union with Connecticut, the champion of the old way 
against the synod of 1662, - - - - - -117 

DISCOURSE VIII. 

Nicholas Street. — The first generation passing away. — The era of the 

war with King Philip, ------ 155 

DISCOURSE IX. 
From 1684 to 1714. — James Pierpont. — Causes of progressive declen- 
sion, and attempts at reformation. — Founding of Yale College. — 
Formation of the Saybrook constitution, . . - . 171 

DISCOURSE X. 

From 1714 to 1740. — Joseph Noyes. — " The great revival" of Presi- 
dent Edwards's day, ------ 193 



VIU CONTENTS. 

DISCOURSE XI. 

Extravagances and confusion. — The New Haven Church divided. 

Mr. Noyes in his old age, ------ 211 



Page. 



DISCOURSE XII. 

Chauncey Wliittelscy and his ministry. — The age of the Revolution, 243 

DISCOURSE XIII. 

James Dana at Wallingford and New Haven. — The past and the 

present, .-.-.-.- 267 

APPENDIX. 

I. Davenport's Discourse about civil government, - - 289 

II. The primitive ordinations in New England, - - - 293 

III. Specimens of Church discipline, ----- 296 

IV. The primitive meeting-house in New Haven, - - 310 
V. Notices of some of the planters of New Haven, - - 313 

VI. John Winthrop of Connecticut, .... 323 

VII. Edward Tench's will and inventory, - - - - 327 

VIII. Treatment of the Indians, ..... 330 

IX. Governor Eaton, ...... 354 

X. The statement of the New Haven colony, ... 358 

XI. Letters from John Davenport to Gov. Winthrop, - - 366 

Additional notices, ...... 387 

XII. Madam Noyes, - 391 

XIII. Dr. Dana's Installation, ..... 393 

IMiscellaneous corrections and additions, ... 393 



DISCOURSE I. 

CAUSES OF THE COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. THE SPIRIT 

OF THE FIRST PLANTERS. 

Psalm Ixxx, 8 — 11. — Thou hast brought a vino out of Egypt; thou hast 
cast out the heathen and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and 
didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were cov- 
ered with the shadow of it; and the boughs thereof were like the goodly 
cedars. She sent out her boughs to the sea and her branches to the river. 

This is the first Sabbath in the third century of the history 
of this rehgioiis congregation. Two hundred years have just 
been completed since the fathers and founders of this Church 
first united in j^ubhc worship, on the spot which they had 
chosen for their home, and to which they had borne the ark 
and the ordinances of their God. Within these two centu- 
ries, great revohitions — one after another — ^liave changed the 
aspect of the world ; thrones have been overturned, dynasties 
have arisen and passed away ; empires have been reared and 
have fallen ; nations have perished, and nations have been 
born ; and, what is more, opinions, systems, dynasties and 
and empires in the world of thought, have flourished and 
have departed ; but amid all these changes, God has been 
worshiped here through Jesus Christ, from Sabbath to Sab- 
bath, with no recorded interruption. The fire of pure and 
spiritual worship, kindled by the founders of this Church so 
long ago, still burns upon their altar and amid their graves. 

On such an occasion, I need offer no apology for departing 
somewhat from the usual forms and topics of pulpit instruc- 
tion. I propose to speak of the various causes which led to 
the founding of this Church, and of the character of those who 
in successive generations have maintained its ordinances and 
enjoyed its privileges. And as I wish to make the occasion 
instructive to all, to the less informed as well as to those who 
have had greater advantages, I shall freely enter into the 

1 



statement of some historical details, with which many are 
entirely familiar. 

This western world — America — was discovered by Colum- 
bus, near the close of the fifteenth century, (A. D. 1492.) 
The discovery of America was preceded by the invention of 
the art of printing, (A. D. 1455, the date of the first printed 
book,) and by the revival of learning in Europe which ensued 
upon the capture of Constantinople by the Turks and the 
extinction of the Greek Christian empire, (A. D. 1453,) and 
the consequent dispersion of learned Greeks over Europe ; 
and it was very soon followed by the commencement of the 
Protestant Reformation, (A. D. 1517.) These four great 
events, occurring within the compass of a single lifetime, have 
wrought, by their combined influence, such changes in the 
condition of the world, that the age in which they occurred 
is the most memorable in the annals of mankind, save only 
the age in which the world was redeemed by the Son of God. 

When America was discovered by the Spaniards, the trop- 
ical regions, from Mexico to Brazil, enjoying a climate without 
any winter, rich in all the natural means of subsistence and 
enjoyment, abounding in gold and silver and precious stones, 
adorned in some places with temples and palaces and popu- 
lous cities, and inhabited by nations whose half-armed effemi- 
nacy, could offer no effectual resistance to the strength of 
European warriors, clad in iron, and equipped with the terri- 
fic implements of modern warfare, presented such a field as 
was never before opened to human rapacity. In a few years, 
the Spanish monarchy, by invasion and violence, by cruelty 
and treachery, had become possessed of vast provinces and 
rich dependent kingdoms in America. Portugal, then one of 
the most considerable powers of Christendom, had at the same 
time laid the foundations of her great western empire. What 
effect the planting of such colonies, founded in rapine, and 
moulded by the combined influences of Popery in religion and 
of despotism in government, has had on the progress of the 
world in freedom, knowledge, and happiness, I need not show 
in detail. Those colonies and conquests poured back indeed 



upon the parent empires, broad streams of wealth : and Spain 
and Portugal with their possessions in the west, were for a 
few short ages the envy of the world. But all prosperity, 
whether of individuals or of nations, that does not spring from 
honest industry and from the arts of peace, brings curses in its 
train. The wealth which Spain and Portugal derived from 
their possessions in America has been their ruin. And from 
the hour in which they, weak and paralyzed, were no longer 
able to retain their grasp upon their American provinces — 
from the hour in which the various countries from Mexico to 
Brazil became independent, what a sea of anarchy has been 
tossing its waves over those wide realms, so gorgeous with 
the lavished wealth of nature. It may even be doubted 
whether there is, at this hour, in Mexico or in Peru, a more 
stable and beneficent government, or a more numerous, com- 
fortable and virtuous population,^ than there was before the 
atrocious conquests of Cortez and Pizarro. What substantial 
benefit has accrued to the world from the planting of Spanish 
colonies in America? What, beyond the benefit of having 
one more illustration, on the grandest scale, of the truth so 
often illustrated in history, that to nations, as to individuals, 
the wages of crime is death. 

The success of Spain, and the reports of adventurers who 
came back to Europe enriched with spoils, excited the cupi- 
dity of other nations to similar enterprises. England, among 
the rest, was ambitious to have tributary provinces in the 
new world, from which gold and gems should come, to fill 
the treasury of her king, and to augment the riches and splen- 
dor of her nobility. One expedition after another was plan- 
ned and undertaken, in the hope of acquiring some country 
which should be to England, what Mexico and Peru had 
been to Spain. And when in consequence of successive and 
most discouraging failures, such hopes began to be abandoned ; 
and plans of colonization, and cultivation, and rational com- 
merce, had succeeded to dreams of romantic conquest and 
adventure — when commercial companies with royal grants 
and charters, actuated by ordinary commercial motives, at- 



tempted to establish settlements in North Carolina and Vir- 
ginia, and upon the bleak coast of Maine, the disappointments 
and disasters which ensued, demonstrated that another call, 
and another sort of charter, and other and higher impulses, 
were necessary to success. Commercial enterprise, cheered 
by royal patronage, and availing itself of the genius of Ra- 
leigh and the adventurous energy of Smith, sent forth its ex- 
peditions without success. The wilderness and the solitary 
place would not be glad for them, and it seemed as if the sav- 
age was to roam over these wilds forever. 

But the fullness of time was approaching. Other causes, 
the working of which was obvious to all, but the tendency of 
which no human mind had conjectured, were operating to 
secure for religion, for freedom, and for science too, their fair- 
est home, and the field of their brightest achievements. 

The reformation from Popery, which Wyclilfe attempted in 
the fourteenth century, and for which Huss and Jerome of 
Prague were martyrs in the fifteenth, was successfully begun 
by Luther in Germany, and by Zuingle in S witzerland, about 
the year 1517 — twenty-five years after the discovery of Amer- 
ica. The minds of men having been prepared beforehand, not 
only by the writings of Wyclilfe and the martyrdom of Huss 
and Jerome, but also by the new impulse and independence 
which had been given to thought in consequence of the revival 
of learning then in progress, and by the excitement which the 
discovery of a new world, and of new paths and regions for 
commerce, had spread over Europe ; and the invention of 
printing having provided a new instrumentality for the diffu- 
sion of knowledge and the promotion of free inquiry — only a 
few years elapsed from the time when Luther in the univer- 
sity of Wittemberg, and Zuingle in the cathedral of Zurich, 
made their first eftbrts, before all Europe was convulsed with 
the progress of a great intellectual and moral emancipation. 

The reformation was essentially the assertion of the right 
of individual thought and opinion, founded on the doctrine of 
individual responsibility. Popery puts the consciences of the 
laity into the keeping of the priesthood. To the priest you 



are to confess your sins ; from him you are to receive penance 
and forgiveness ; he is to be responsible for you, if you do as 
he bids you ; to him you are to commit the guidance and 
government of your soul, with implicit submission. Life and 
immortality are only in the sacraments which he dispenses ; 
death and eternal despair are in his malediction. You are to 
do what he enjoins ; you are to believe what he teaches ; he 
is accountable to God — you are accountable to him. The 
reformation, on the contrary, puts the Bible into every man's 
hand, and bids him believe, not what the priesthood declares, 
not what the Church decrees, but what God reveals. It tells 
him, Here is God's word ; and for your reception or rejection 
of it, you are individually and directly accountable to God. 
Thus it was that from the beginning — though princes and 
statesmen did not always so regard it — the cause of the refor- 
mation Avas every where essentially the cause of freedom, 
of manly thought, and bold inquiry ; of popular improvement, 
of universal education. When religion, instead of being an 
affair between man and his priest, becomes an affair between 
man and his God ; the dignity of man as man at once out- 
shines the dignity of pontiffs and of kings. By the doctrine 
of the reformation, men though fallen and miserable in their 
native estate, are yet, in the estate to which they are raised as 
redeemed by Christ, as emancipated by the truth, and as 
anointed by the Holy Spirit — "kings and priests unto God." 

In England — always to be named with reverential affection 
as the father-land of our fathers — the seeds of truth and spiri- 
tual freedom, sown by Wycliffe a hundred and fifty yeai'S 
before Luther's time, were never entirely extirpated. And 
when Germany and Switzerland began to be agitated with 
the great discussions of the reformation, men were soon found 
in England, who sympathized with the reformers, and se- 
cretly or openly adopted their principles. But in that country, 
peculiar circumstances gave to the reformation of the national 
Church a peculiar form and aspect. 

The English king at that period, was Henry VIII. He 
was, for a prince, uncommonly well educated in the scholastic 



learning of the age ; and not long after the commencement of 
the reformation, he signahzed himself, and obtained from the 
Pope the honorary title of " Defender of the Faith," by wri- 
ting a Latin volume in confutation of the heresies of Luther. 
But afterwards, wishing to put away his wife on account of 
some pretended scruple of conscience, and not being able to 
obtain a divorce by the authority of the Pope, who had strong 
political reasons for evading a compliance with his wishes, he 
quarreled with the Pope, (1529,) and began to reform after a 
fashion of his own. Without renouncing any doctrine of the 
Romish Church, he declared the Church of England inde- 
pendent of the see of Rome ; he assumed all ecclesiastical 
power into his own hands, making himself head of the Church ; 
he confiscated the lands and treasures of the monasteries ; he 
brought the bishops into an abject dependence on his power ; 
he exercised the prerogative of allowing or restraining at his 
pleasure the circulation and use of the Scriptures : and, with 
impartial fury, he persecuted those who adhered to the Pope, 
and those who abjured the errors of Popery. The religion 
of the Church of England, under his administration, was Po- 
pery, with the king for pope. 

During the short reign of Edward VI, (1547,) or rather of 
the regents who governed England in his name, the king 
himself being under age, the reformation of the English 
Church was commenced with true good-will, and carried for- 
ward as energetically and rapidly as was consistent with dis- 
cretion. Thus when the bloody Q-ueen Mary succeeded to 
the throne, (1553,) and attempted to restore, by sword and 
faggot, the ancient superstition, hundreds were found who 
followed the protomartyr Rogers, and like him sealed their 
testimony at the stake ; and hundreds more, of ministers and 
other intelligent and conscientious men, having the opportu- 
nity of flight, found refuge for a season in the various Protes- 
tant countries of the continent. At the places at which these 
exiles were hospitably received, and particularly at Geneva, 
they became familiar with forms of worship, and of disci- 
pline, more completely purified from Popery, than the forms 



which had as yet been adopted or permitted in their native 
country. Among the Enghsh exiles in the city of Frankfort, 
who had the privilege of uniting in public worship in their 
own language, there arose a difference of opinion. Some 
were for a strict conformity of their public services to the or- 
""der which had been established in England under King 
Edward, while others considered themselves at liberty to lay 
aside every thing which savored of superstition, and to imitate 
the simplicity which characterized the Reformed Churches 
around them. These were denominated by their adversaries, 
"Puritans;" and the dispute at Frankfort in the year 1554, 
is commonly regarded by historians as marking the beginning 
of the Puritan party. 

When the reign of Queen Elizabeth commenced, (1558,) 
the exiles returned, expecting that a princess educated in the 
Protestant faith, whose title to the throne was identified with 
the Protestant cause, would energetically carry forward the 
reformation which had been begun under the reign of her 
brother, but which by his premature death had been left con- 
fessedly imperfect. This expectation was disappointed. The 
new Queen was more the daughter of Henry than the sister 
of Edward. She seemed to dislike nothing of Popery but 
its inconsistency with her title to the throne, and its claims 
against her ecclesiastical supremacy. The doctrines of the 
Church of England, as set forth in its articles, were indeed 
truly and thoroughly Protestant, being originally conformed 
to the views of Calvin and other illustrious reformers on the 
continent ; but the discipline was not reformed — no ade- 
quate provision being made for excluding the unworthy from 
communion in sacraments, or for securing to the people an 
intelligent, evangelical, teaching clergy ; the liturgy was only 
partially reformed — it being made to follow, more closely than 
in King Edward's time, the Popish missals from which it had 
been compiled and translated ; and finally the vestments and 
ceremonies which in the popular mind were inseparably asso- 
ciated with superstitious notions, and against which the Pu- 
ritans had a strong dislike, were scrupulously enjoined and 



8 

maintained. Those ministers who, in aiiy particular, neg- 
lected to conform to the prescribed ceremonies and observ- 
ances, were called "Non-conformists;" and though their non- 
conformity was sometimes connived at by this or that more 
lenient bishop, and sometimes went unpunished because of 
the danger of exciting popular odium, every such minister 
was always liable to be suspended or silenced ; and many of 
them, though the ablest and most efficient preachers in the 
kingdom, at a time when not more than one out of four of 
the clergy could preach at all,* were forbidden to preach, and 
were deprived of all their employments. 

The Puritans, it will be remembered, were not a secession 
from the Church of England ; they were only that party 
within the Church, which demanded a more thorough refor- 
mation. Their hopes as a party were kept alive, not only by 
the consciousness that the force of argument was on their 
side, with no inferiority in respect to talents and learning ; 
but partly by the growing popularity of their opinions ; partly 
by the favor of those politic and far-seeing statesmen, who, 
so far as the Glueen's willfulness would permit, controlled her 
government by their counsels ; and partly by the prospect 
that the Queen's successor on the throne might be himself a 
Puritan. 

James Stuart, King of Scotland, became King of England 
on the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1 603. As he had reigned 
over a kingdom thoroughly reformed, and had been educated 
under influences favorable to the simplest and strictest forms 
of the Protestant religion, and had often professed in the 
most solemn manner a hearty attachment to those forms, it 
was hoped, notwithstanding his known instability of charac- 
ter and his fondness for the pomp and forms of kingly power, 
that he might be inclined to bring the ecclesiastical state of 
England, in its discipline and worship, nearer the pattern of 
the reformed Churches. Accordingly while he was on his 
way to the metropolis of his new kingdom, he was met with 

* Hallain, Conatitiitional History of England, I, 270. 



9 

a petition signed by more than eight hundred mhiisters of the 
Church of England, praying for the reformation of certain par- 
ticulars in worship and discipline, but not aimed at all against 
the principle of prelacy, or the principle of prescribed forms of 
public prayer. Not one of the least of these requests was 
granted ; on the contrary, the Puritans soon foiuid that the 
chances of hereditary succession had placed over them as their 
king, a low minded, vain-glorious, pedantic fool, to whom the 
more than oriental adulation with which courtly prelates 
fawned upon him, was dearer than the honor of God and the 
welfare of the people. A specimen of what they might ex- 
pect under his reign was given, in the imprisonment of ten of 
the ministers who had presented the reasonable and moderate 
petition for reform — the offense of presenting such a petition 
having been declared in the Star-chamber to be " fineable at 
discretion, and very near to treason and felony, as it tended 
to sedition and rebellion."*' 

From such persecution, pious and resolute men who loved 
liberty and purity even more than they loved their native 
soil, soon began to retreat into other countries. Some had 
begun to separate themselves professedly from the Church of 
England, as despairing of its reformation, and to organize 
themselves independently of the civil state, framing their 
ecclesiastical institutions according to their own understand- 
ing of the word of God. A small congregation of such per- 
sons, "finding by experience that they could not peaceably 
enjoy their own liberty in their native country," removed 
with their families from the North of England into Holland, 
and in the year 1610 settled themselves in the city of Ley- 
den ; " and there," in the language of one of them, " they 
continued divers years in a comfortable condition, enjoying 
much sweet society and spiritual comfort in the ways of 
God;" "having for their pastor Mr. John Robinson, a man 
of a learned, polished and modest spirit, pious, and studying 
of the truth, largely accomplished with spiritual gifts and 

* Ilallani, I, 406. 
2 



10 

qualifications to be a shepherd over this tlock of Christ ; 
having also a fellow helper with him in the eldership, Mr. 
William Brewster, a man of approved piety, gravity and sin- 
cerity, very eminently furnished with gifts suitable to such 
an office."* 

This little Church, after a few years' residence in Hollandj 
finding that in the city of strangers where they were so hos- 
pitably received, they labored under many disadvantages, 
especially in regard to the education of their children, and 
moved also by "a great hope and inward zeal they had of 
laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way 
thereunto, for the propagating and advancement of the king- 
dom of Christ," "^ yea, although they should be but as step- 
ping stones unto others for the performance of so great a 
work," — determined on a removal to America ; and on the 
22d of December, 1620, one hundred of the Leyden pilgrims, 
including men, women, and little children, landed from the 
Mayflower on the rock of Plymouth. Then first the ark of 
God rested upon the soil of New England, and made it " holy 
ground." Let the annual return of that wintry day be bright 
in the hearts of the sons of New England, 

" Till the waves of the bay where the Mayflower lay 
Shall foam and freeze no more." 

Meanwhile the Puritans in England were striving and suf- 
fering in vain. Reluctant, for the most part, to admit the 
idea of separation from the national Church, they waited and 
prayed, and struggled to obtain a more perfect reformation. 
Their cause grew in favor with the people and with the 
Parliament, for it was felt to be the cause of Protestantism, 
of sobriety and godliness, and of civil liberty. But the mon- 
arch, and those dependent creatures of the monarch, the pre- 
lates, appointed by his pleasure, and accountable to him alone, 

* Morton's Memorial. The pastor of the Leyden pilgrims never came to 
New England. His son Isaac Robinson was however one of the early sot- 
tiers of Seituate, in Plymouth colony- From Isaac Robinson was descended 
the mother of the second Governor Trumbull. 



11 

were steady in the determination to have no reform, and to 
enforce submission. Five years after the settlement of Ply- 
mouth, King James was succeeded by his son Charles I, who 
with more gravity and respectability of personal character 
than belonged to his father, pursued the same despotic policy, 
in the Church, and in the civil state, which made his father 
odious as well as contemptible. His principal adviser was 
William Laud, a narrow minded and bitter enemy of all who 
desired any farther reformation in ecclesiastical disciphne, 
a systematic corrupter of the established doctrines of the 
Church, a superstitious promoter of pomp and ceremony in 
religion, more a friend to Rome than to Geneva or to Augs- 
burg, a hater of popular rights and of the ancient liberties 
and common law of England, and the constant adviser of all 
arbitrary methods of government. This man, being made 
bishop of London, and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, 
and having the king almost absolutely under his control, 
brought the despotic powers of the Star-chamber and of the 
High Commission Court to bear with new terrors, not only 
upon non-conforming clergymen, but upon men of other 
professions who dared to express an opinion in favor of re- 
formation.* 

* William Prynne, Esq., a barrister at law, for writing a learned but tedi- 
ous book entitled Htstriomastix, against plays, masques, dancing, and other 
things of the same kind, which was construed into a libel on the Q,ueen, in- 
asmuch as her majesty was a patron of such diversions, — was condemned 
in the Star-chamber "to have his book burnt by the hands of the common 
hangman, to be put from the bar, and to be forever incapable of his profes- 
sion, to be turned out of the society in Lincoln's-Inn, to be degraded at 
Oxford, to stand on the pillory at Westminster and Cheapside, to lose both 
liis ears, one in each place, to pay a fine of five thousand pounds, and to 
suffer perpetual imprisonment." This was in 1633. Neal, II, 276. 

A few months afterwards, Dr. Bastwick, a physician, having published a 
book which denied the divine right of bishops as an order superior to pres- 
byters, was condemned by the High Commission to be excluded from the 
practice of his profession, to be excommunicated, to be fined a thousand 
pounds, and to be imprisoned till he should recant. Ibid, 278. 

Three years before, Dr. Alexander Lcighton, a Scotch divine, whose son 
was afterwards the excellent Archbishop Lcighton — fur having published a 
book against prelacy, had suffered a still more cruel punishmcnl. The hook 



12 

In these circumstances, the same spirit that had led the 
Pilgrims of Leyden to Plymouth, led others, in greater num- 
bers, and with more adequate means, to attempt the estab- 
lishment of religious colonies in America. Eight years after 
the settlement of Plymouth, the colony of Massachusetts Bay 
was commenced by Endicott and his company at Salem ; 
and in 1630, Boston and the surrounding towns were occu- 
pied by the illustrious Winthrop and the hundreds of emi- 
grants who followed him. In 1635, the first beginnings 
were made on the Connecticut river, at Hartford and at Say- 
brook ; and in 1638, on the 15th of April, (Old Style,) that 
being the Lord's day, there was heard upon this spot the 
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord ; and under the open sky, bright with the 
promise of a new era of light and liberty, a Christian con- 
gregation, led by a devoted, learned and eloquent minister 
of Christ, raised their hearts to God in prayer, and mingled 
their voices in praise. 

How easily may the imagination, acquainted with these 
localities, and with the characters and circumstances of the 
men who were present on that occasion, run back over the 
two centuries that have passed, and bring up the picture of 
that first Sabbath ! Look out upon the smooth harbor of 
Q-uinnipiack. It lies embosomed in a wilderness. Two or 
three small vessels, having in their appearance nothing of 
the characteristic grace, lightness and life of the well known 



appears to have had a pretty strong savor of Scotch acrimony ; and the au- 
thor was censured accordingly. The unanimous judgment of the Star- 
chamber was, that he should " pay a fine of ten thousand pounds ; that the 
High Commission should degrade him from his ministry ; and that then he 
should be brought to the pillory at Westminster, while the Court was sitting, 
and whipped ; after whipping be set upon the pillory a convenient time, and 
have one of his ears cut off, one side of his nose slit, and be branded in the 
face with a double S. S. for a sower of sedition : that then he should be 
carried back to prison, and after a few days be pilloried a second time in 
Cheapside, and be then likewise whipped, and have the other side of his 
nose slit, and his other ear cut oft', and then be shut up in close prison for 
fhe remainder of his life." Ibid. 235. 



13 

American vessels which are in these days found shooting 
over every sea, he anchored in the distance. Here, along 
the margin of a creek, are a few tents, and some two or 
three rude huts, with the boxes and luggage that were 
landed yesterday, piled up around them ; and here and there 
a little column of smoke, going up in the still morning air, 
shows that the inmates arc in motion. Yet all is quiet; 
though the sun is up, there is no appearance of labor or bu- 
siness ; for it is the Sabbath. By and by the stillness is bro- 
ken by the beating of a drum ; and from the tents and from 
the vessels, a congregation comes gathering around a spread- 
ing oak. The aged and the honored are seated near the 
ministers ; the younger, and those of inferior condition, find 
their places farther back ; for the defense of all, there are men 
in armor, each with his heavy unwieldy gun, and one and 
another with a smoking matchlock. What a congregation 
is this, to be gathered in the wilds of New England. Here 
are men and women who have been accustomed to the 
luxuries of wealth in a metropolis, and to the refinements 
of a court. Here are ministers who have disputed in the 
universities, and preached under Gothic arches in London. 
These men and women have come into a wilderness, to face 
new dangers, to encounter new temptations. They look to 
God ; and words of solemn prayer go up, responding to the 
murmurs of the woods and of the waves. They look to God 
whose mercy and faithfulness have brought them to their 
land of promise, — and for the first time since the creation, 
the echoes of these hills and waters are wakened by the 
voice of praise. The word of God is opened ; and their 
faith and hope are strengthened for the conflicts before them, 
by contemplating the conflict and the victory of Him, who, 
in all things the example of his people, was once, like them, 
" led forth by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of 
the Devil."* 



* Mr. Davenport's sermon on the first Sabbath after the landing, was from 
Matt, iv, 1, " on the temptation in tlie wilderness.' Kingsley, "^O. 



14 

Of the many Puritans who came to New England at its 
first planting, none, save the Pilgrims of Plymouth, had re- 
nounced the Church of England, or separated themselves 
from its communion. None, save those of Plymouth, came 
with their ecclesiastical institutions already organized. The 
Church of which Robinson was pastor, and Brewster ruling 
elder, was formed in England, on the principle of separating 
from the establishment, and renouncing all connection with 
it ; and when they came to America, they came as English- 
men indeed, loving their native country, but not as sustain- 
ing any relation to the Church of England, from which they 
had long before come out to be separate. The others, how- 
ever, those of Salem and Boston, those of Connecticut, and 
those of New Haven, while they " came over with a pro- 
fessed intention of practising church reformation," — came 
not as separatists ; they disavowed such an imputation as 
slanderous ; they declared that " they did not separate from 
the Church of England, nor from the ordinances of God 
there, but only from the corruptions and disorders there." 
In England, the difference between the separatists and the 
non-conformists was a difference of no trivial moment. The 
practical question upon which they were divided, was a ques- 
tion involving great principles. To the separatist, the mere 
non-conformist was one who had communion with idolatry, 
and with a systematized usurpation of the rights of Jesus 
Christ as head of the Church. To the non-conformist, the 
separatist was one who divided the body of Christ, and tore 
himself away not only from that which was corrupt and dis- 
orderly in the Church, but from the Church itself, and from 
the ordinances there. And when men who sufler in the 
same cause, are divided in respect to the great practical prin- 
ciples by which that cause is to be promoted, the division 
cuts to the quic^k, and often produces the most painful and 
lasting alienations. But in the free air of New England, the 
division between the separatist and the non-conformist was 
at an end. The Pilgrims of Plymouth and the Puritans of 
Salem greeted each other with a cordial welcome, and forgot 



15 

that there had ever been a difference between them. They 
ah feh, whether upon the Bay or upon the River, whether 
at Plymouth or at New Haven, that they had come into the 
same wilderness, in the face of the same dangers, for the 
same high end, " freedom to worship God" — freedom to build 
the house of God according to the pattern of God's word. 
And here by their united prayers, by their free and strenuous 
investigations and their harmonious counsels, by their manly 
toils, and their magnanimous self-denials, under a sense of 
great responsibility to God for his honor and for the welfare 
of other generations, they framed a system of ecclesiastical 
order, and a system of civil government, each perfectly con- 
genial to the other, and each without a parallel or a model, 
save the pattern which God showed them in the mount, as 
they communed with the Spirit of his wisdom recorded in 
his word. 

Thus it was that New England was planted. Thus it was 
that this Church was placed here in the wilderness. The 
planting of North America upon merely mercenary and self- 
ish principles had been attempted once and again, and had 
failed. Our fathers and predecessors came under the influ- 
ence of higher motives, and of a holier inspiration. They 
came, actuated by a great and sublime idea, — an idea from 
the word and mind of God, — an idea that made them cour- 
ageous to attempt, wise to plan, strong to suffer, and dauntless 
to persevere. Their souls were exalted to a perception of 
the grandeur of their undertaking and of the vast results 
that were suspended on its success. They were inspired by 
a living sympathy with the designs of that Almighty provi- 
dence, which led them into this boundless wilderness, that 
for them the wilderness and the solitary place might be glad, 
and the desert rejoice abundantly with joy and singing. Thus 
they could write upon their banner those words of Puritan 
faith and devotion, " He who transplanted us, siistains us." 
Whoever looks upon the armorial bearings of Connecti- 
cut, — the three vines which God brought out of Egypt and 
planted, for which he prepared room, before which he cast 



16 

out the heathen, which he caused to take deep root, till they 
sent out their boughs to the river and their branches to the 
sea, and till the hills were covered with their shadow, and 
their boughs were like the cedars of God, — whoever reads 
that simple yet inspiring motto, brighter from age to age with 
glorious remembrances, — may see for what ends, in what 
spirit, and by whose power and guidance, our fathers came 
into this wilderness.* 

Let their spirit be ours. Woe to that man who amid the 
memorials, and enjoying the fruits of their toils and suffer- 
ings, breathing the air every murmur of which seems to 
whisper their reverend names — woe to the man who amid 
their altars and upon their graves, forsakes their God — rejects 
their Saviour — and recreant to their principles, lives only to 
himself instead of living for God, for posterity, and for the 
world. 



* I know not to whom wc are indebted for the exquisite device and motto 
of the arms of Connecticut ; but in the absence of evidence it is not unnatural 
to suppose tliat the three vines — alluding to those three independent settle- 
ments, the river towns, the Saybrook fort, and the New Haven jurisdiction — 
and the motto, Qui transtulit sustiiiet, are a specimen of the good taste of 
Governor Winthrop, whose diplomatic skill and personal favor with Charles 
II, obtained the free charter of 1662; and whose wisdom and popularity, uni- 
ted so happily, under that charter, a people otherwise greatly divided. 



DISCOURSE II. 

THE FOUNDATIONS LAID IN CHURCH AND COMMONWEALTH. 

CONSTITUTION FORMED IN MR. NEWMAN's BARN. THE PU- 
RITANS. 

Prov. ix. 1 . — Wisdom liatJi builded her liousc, she hath hewn out her 
seven pillars. 

The first settlers of New England generally came hither, 
not for the improvement of their outward condition and the 
increase of their estates, not for the sake of putting in prac- 
tice any abstract theory of human rights or of civil govern- 
ment, not even for mere liberty of conscience, but for the one 
great purpose of extending the kingdom of God, and promo- 
ting their welfare, and the welfare of their posterity, and the 
welfare of the world, by planting Christian institutions, in 
the purest and simplest form, upon this virgin soil. It was 
this purpose, which gave to their enterprise its character of 
heroic dignity. It was from this high purpose, that they de- 
rived the resolution which carried the enterprise through all 
its discouragements, and the faith which ensured its success. 
It was this one great purpose of theirs, which determined the 
form, the spirit, and the working of their civil institutions. 
They had seen, in their native country, the entire subjection 
of the Church to the supreme power of the civil state ; refor- 
mation beginning, and ending, according to the caprices of 
the hereditary sovereign ; the Church neither purified from 
superstition, ignorance, and scandal, nor permitted to purify 
itself; ambitious, time-serving, tyrannical men, the minions 
of the court, appointed to high places of prelacy ; and faith- 
ful, skillful, and laborious preachers of the Word of God, 
silenced, imprisoned, and deprived of all means of subsistence, 
according to the interests and aims of him, or her, who by 
the law of inheritance, happened to be at the head of the 
kingdom. All this seemed to them not only preposterous. 

3 



18 

but intolerable ; and, therefore, to escape from such a state of 
things, and to be where they could freely "prarti^° Church 
reformation," they emigrated as far from civilization, as if we 
were now to emigrate to Nootka Sound. Here, they deter- 
mined that, whatever else might be sacrificed, the purity and 
liberty of their Churches should be inviolate. The Church 
was not to be, as in England, subordinate to the civil govern- 
ment, — the mere dependent creature of the secular power, — 
the secular commonwealth here was designed, created, fra- 
med, for no other end than to secure the being and the wel- 
fare of the Churches. " Mr. Hooker did often quote a saying 
out of Mr. Cartwright, that noe man fashioneth his house to 
his hangings, but his hangings to his house." " It is better," 
adds Mr. Cotton, " that the commonwealth be fashioned to 
the setting forth of God's house, which is his Church, than 
to accommodate the Church frame to the civill state."* If, 
then, their civil polity was essentially popular, if their politi- 
cal institutions have grown into the most perfect specimen of 
a free commonwealth which the world has ever seen, that 
result is to be ascribed to the popular, or as we now use 
words, the democratic character of their ecclesiastical polity. 
With these views, when the planters of the New Haven 
Colony arrived here, their first care was to lay their founda- 
tions wisely and safely. In this they proceeded with great 
deliberation. They began, indeed, very soon after their ar- 
rival, by forming, at the close of their first day of fasting and 
prayer, a '' plantation covenant," in which they solemnly 
pledged themselves to each other, and to God, " that as in 
matters that concern the gathering and ordering of a Church, 
so likewise in all public offices, which concern civil order, as 
choice of magistrates and officers, making and repealing of 
laws, dividing allotments of inheritances, and all things of 
like nature," they would be governed "by those rules which 
the Scripture holds forth." But under this general compact, 
they at first made only a temporary arrangement for the man- 
agement of their religious and civil affairs. Their leaders 



* Cotton's letter to Lord Say and Seal, in Hutchinson I, 497. 



19 

had no idea of sitting down to frame, for their colony, a con- 
stitution and code of laws beforehand, as Locke did, at a later 
day, for the projected colony of Carolina. They knew that 
it was not for them, at the first dash, to strike out a complete 
scheme and system of government. They knew that what 
is done in a hurry, often needs to be done over again as has- 
tily ; and that the pubhc welfare depends not merely on the 
provisions of the written constitution, but also on the worth 
and fitness of the men who act under the constitution ; and 
therefore they determined, that before proceeding to lay the 
foundations, not only the principles on- which their fabric 
should be constructed, but the men who were to be employed 
as living stones in that temple of wisdom, should be well ex- 
amined. During a period of fourteen months, while they 
were rearing some temporary shelters, clearing away the dense 
growth of the wilderness, and raising their first crops from the 
soil, they were praying, and fasting, and inquiring, and debat- 
ing, to get wisdom for the great work of laying the foundations 
of their Church and of their commonwealth. The town was 
"cast into several private meetings, wherein they that dwelt 
most together gave their accounts one to another of God's gra- 
cious work upon them, and prayed together, and conferred to 
mutual edification," and thus " had knowledge, one of anoth- 
er," and of the fitness of individuals for their several places, in 
the foundation-work, or in the superstructure. 

While these discussions were in progress, a difference of 
opinion appears to have arisen between Mr. Davenport, and 
his colleague in the ministry, Samuel Eaton, respecting the 
principles on which a government should be constructed, in 
order best to secure the ends for which the colony was foun- 
ded. It has been my privilege to have before me, while pur- 
suing my inquiries respecting the men and the transactions 
of that period, a treatise from the pen of Davenport, entitled, 
"A Discourse about Civil Government in a New Plantation 
whose design is Religion." From strong internal evidence, 
this pamphlet appears to have been written here in the woods 
of Quinnipiack, while the form and prinriples of the civij 



20 

government to be erected here, were yet unsettled, and to have 
been part of a written discussion which the author was main- 
taining with his colleague, on that subject, then so interesting 
to them, and so little illustrated by experience.* 

At length, on the fourth, or according to the present style, 
the fourteenth of June, 1639, every thing having been pre- 
pared for so grand an occasion, "all the free planters" — 
which expression includes all who were partners in the un- 
dertaking of planting the colony — met in Mr. Newman's 
barn, for the purpose of laying, with due solemnities, the 
foundations of their ecclesiastical order, and of their civil 
government.! The solemnities of the occasion were intro- 
duced, it is said, by a sermon from Mr. Davenport on the 
words recited at the commencement of this discourse, "Wis- 
dom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pil- 
lars." Then, all present having been seriously warned "not 
to be rash or slight in giving their votes to things ihey un- 
derstood not," but " without respect to men, as they should 
be satisfied and persuaded in their own minds, to give their 
anwers in such sort as they would be willing they should 
stand upon record for posterity," they voted, unanimously, 
that the Scriptures do hold forth a perfect rule for the direc- 
tion and government of men in all duties, as well in families 



* Some account of tliis treatise will be found in the Appendix No. I. 

t There appears to be no reason to distrust the tradition which fixes on 
" Mr. Newman's barn" as the scene of that meeting. The only question is, 
Where was Mr. Newman's barn ? When this question was proposed by the 
Committee of arrangements before the late Centennial celebration, it could 
not be answered. 

Among the original planters of New Haven were two who bore the name 
of Newman, — Francis, who after a few years became Secretary both of the 
town and of the jurisdiction, and on the death of Gov. Eaton became gov- 
ernor of the colony, — and Robert, who was the ruling elder of the Church. 
Francis Newman appears to have been a young man when the town was 
settled ; he was not a man of wealth, his estate being put in the list for taxes 
at only £160 ; and when he was made Governor, the colony provided him 
a house to live in. It is not at all likely that he was the proprietor of a 
" large barn" as early as 1639. Robert Newman on the contrary, was at the 
beginning one of the leading men in the colony. Ho was: a man of con- 



21 

and commonwealth, as in matters of the Church. Tliey 
unanimously renewed the great engagement of their planta- 
tion covenant, and professed that they held themselves bound, 
not only in all ecclesiastical proceedings, but in all civil du- 
ties, the choice of magistrates, the enactment and repeal of 
laws, and the dividing of inheritances, — to submit them- 
selves to the rules held forth in the Scriptures. They unan- 
imously expressed their " purpose, resolution, and desire, to 
be admitted into church-fellowship according to Christ, so 
soon as God should lit them thereunto." They unanimously 
voted that they "felt themselves bound to establish such civil 
order as might best conduce to the securing of the purity and 
peace of the ordinances to themselves and their posterity ac- 
cording to God." 

" Then," as the record informs us, "Mr. Davenport de- 
clared to them by the Scripture, what kind of persons might 
best be trusted with matters of government ; and by sundry 
arguments from Scripture proved that such men as were de- 
scribed in Exod. xviii, 21 ; Deut. i, 13, with Deut. xvii, 15, 
and 1 Cor. vi, 1, 6, 7" — [viz. " able men, such as fear God, 
men of truth, hating covetousness" — " men of wisdom and 
understanding, and known among your tribes" — " not stran- 
gers, but brethren, and those whom the Lord your God shall 
choose" — " not the unjust, or the unbelieving, but the holy"j 



siderablc wealth, his estate being rated at £700. He acted as scribe on the 
occasion in question, the minutes of tlie meeting being written by him ; and 
he was chosen for one of the seven pillars. If there is any truth in the tra- 
dition, we cannot doubt that the barn was his. 

But Robert Newman's name does not appear among the " original gran- 
tees" on the old Plan of New Haven published in 1806 by Col. Lyon. And 
where such an antiquarian failed, it is not easy to succeed. One allusion, 
however, which I have happened to light on, supplies this deficiency. The 
deed by which the town in 1685 conveyed to the Rev. James Pierpont the 
lot on which he lived, extending on Elm Street some distance above and be- 
low where Temple Street now is, — describes that lot as bounded, in the rear, 
by the lot which was once Mr. Robert Newman's, and which is thus identi- 
fied as the corresponding lot in Grove Street. In other words, Mr. New- 
man's barn was somewhere on the ground now occupied by the dwellings of 
Profes.sor Kingslcy and Dr. Webster. 



22 

■ — " ought to be intrusted by them, seeing they were free to 
cast themselves into that mould and form of commonwealth 
which appeared best for them in reference to the securing 
the peace and peaceable enjoyment of all Christ's ordinances 
in the Church." After which, the company having been 
entreated '■' freely to consider whether they would have it 
voted at this time or not," it was deliberately voted that 
" free burgesses shall be chosen out of the church-members, 
they that are in the foundation-work of the Church, being 
actually free burgesses, and to choose to themselves out of the 
like estate of church-fellowship ; and the power of choosing 
magistrates and officers from among themselves, and the 
power of making and repealing laws according to the Word, 
and the dividing of inheritances, and deciding of differences 
that may arise, and all the business of like nature, are to be 
transacted by these free burgesses." From this, after the 
vote had been taken, one man expressed his dissent in part. 
That man, though the record does not name him, was 
probably the Rev. Samuel Eaton, of whom it is related by 
several authors,* that he dissented from Mr. Davenport in re- 
spect to the principles of civil government. In expressing 
his dissent, " he granted, that magistrates should be men fear- 
ing God ; that the Church is the company where ordinarily 
such men may be expected ; and that they that choose them 
ought to be men fearing God : only at this he stuck, that 
free planters ought not to give this power out of their hands." 
Upon this a debate arose. To the reply made by some one, 
that whatever was done, was done with the consent of the 
planters, and that the government which they were forming 
was to originate strictly in the will of the people, the objector 
answered, " that all the free planters ought to resume this 
power into their own hands if things were not orderly car- 
ried," and therefore that this constitution which made no pro- 
vision for such a contingency was defective. Mr. Theophi- 



* Mather, Magn. Ill, 213. Dana's Sermon on llic completion of the eigh- 
teenth century, 4(j. 



23 

Ins Eaton illustrated the equity of the proposed arrange- 
ment, by showing, that in all places civil power is in the 
hands of a part for the benefit of the whole, and reminded 
them that in London, with the constitution of which city 
they were familiar, the companies choose the livery, and the 
livery choose the magistrates. " Some others," it is recorded, 
''entreated the former to give his arguments and reasons 
whereupon he dissented. He refused to do it, and said they 
might not rationally demand it, seeing he let the vote pass 
on freely, and did not speak till after it was passed, because 
he would not hinder what they were agreed upon." The 
debate having proceeded thus far, Mr. Davenport, who appears 
to have acted throughout as moderator of the meeting, made 
"a short relation of some former passages between them two 
about this question," and "prayed the company that nothing 
might be concluded by them on this weighty question, but 
what themselves were persuaded to be agreeing with the 
mind of God ;" and in view of what had been said since the 
vote was taken, " he entreated them again to consider of it, 
and put it again to vote as before." It was voted again with 
one consent, " And some of them confessed, that whereas 
they did waver before they came to the assembly, they were 
now fully convinced." 

Having thus settled this principle as " a great fundamental 
agreement concerning civil government," they proceeded 
another step towards the organization proposed. And " to 
prevent the blemishing of the first beginnings of the Church 
work, Mr. Davenport advised that the names of such as were 
to be admitted, might be publicly propounded, to the end 
that they who were most approved might be chosen," — a 
method of proceeding which, as you observe, has been con- 
tinued to this day, none being now received into church-fel- 
lowship till after their names have been publicly propoun- 
ded. Then by the consent of all, it was agreed, " that twelve 
men be chosen, that their fitness for the foundation-work 
may be tried ;" " and that it be in the power of these twelve 
to choose out of themselves seven, that shall be most approved 
of the major part, to begin the Church." 



24 

The seven pillars chosen to begin the Church, according to 
the arrangement just described, were Theophilus Eaton, John 
Davenport, Robert Newman, Matthew Gilbert, Thomas Fu- 
gill, John Pnnderson, and Jeremiah Dixon. By these seven 
persons, covenanting together, and then receiving others into 
their fellowship, the first Church of Christ in New Haven 
was gathered and constituted on the 22d of August, 1639.* 

I have been the more particular in these details, because 
they illustrate the character, and especially the religious char- 
acter of the founders of this Church. The record of the 
meeting in Mr. Newman's barn, has often been published,! 
and I presume has been regarded by many as showing con- 
clusively a great deal of fanaticism and bigotry, on the part 
of the New Haven colonists. Fanaticism and bigotry are 
qualities that affect Christian character very seriously ; and 
therefore it is proper to inquire here, with some attention, 
what the record contains, and what it does not contain ; and 
particularly how far it gives any indications of narrowness or 
fanaticism. 

1. There is no claim of a divine right in the Church to 
rule the commonwealth. There are in these proceedings 
no fifth-monarchy notions — no intimations that the saints as 
such arc of right to rule the earth. This is perfectly accor- 
dant with the views of Davenport elsewhere expressed. In 
the " former passages," between him and his colleague, he 
had utterly refused to discuss the question " whether the right 
and power of choosing civil magistrates belongs to the Church 
of Christ." He said that arguments for the negative of such 
a question are arguments "produced to prove that which is 
not denied." 

2. There is here no confusion of the distinct provinces of 
the Church and the civil state. There is no proposal to 
transact the least particle of the business of the common- 

* This date is ascertained from the records of the First Clmrch in Milford, 
which was gathered in New Haven, and, as tradition says, on the same day 
with the New Haven Church. 

1 Trumbull I, 502. Barber, Hist, and Anliq. of New Haven, 30. 



25 

wealth in any church-meeting, or to pnt any civil power 
whatever into the hands of church officers. The proposal 
was not that membership in the Church should invest a 
man with power in the government of the commonwealth. 
Many might debate, and vote in church-meetings who could 
have no voice at all in the government of the civil state. 
None ever marked the distinction between the church and 
the state more carefully than Davenport. " Ecclesiastical 
administrations," he says, " are a divine order appointed 
to believers for holy communion of holy things. Civil 
administrations are a human order appointed by God to 
wew, for civil fellowship of human things." Drawing out 
this distinction, he says, '' Man, by nature, being a reasona- 
ble and sociable creature, capable of civil order, is, or may be, 
the subject of civil power and state. But man by grace, 
called out of the world to fellowship with Jesus Christ and 
with his people, is the only subject of church power." And 
" though they both agree in this, that they have the same 
last end, namely, the glory of God, yet they differ in their 
next ends, for the next end of civil order and administrations 
is the preservation of human societies, in outward honor, jus- 
tice, and peace ; but the next end of church order and admin- 
istrations are, the conversion, edification and salvation of souls, 
pardon of sin, power against sin, and peace with God." And 
not to detain you with other quotations, he insists that the 
ecclesiastical order and the civil must have different laws, dif- 
ferent officers, and different power. Who has ever distin- 
guished more accurately between the church and the state ? 
3. There is throughout these proceedings, a decided asser- 
tion of the right of the people to originate such a constitution 
of civil government, as might to them seem good. The 
fashion of the age was, to deduce all authority from the divine 
right of kings ; and the theory of civil power was the theory 
of uninterrupted succession. But the settlers of New Haven 
thought, that having traveled beyond the bounds of any ex- 
isting government, " they were free to cast themselves into 
that mould and form of commonwealth which appeared best 

4 



26 

for them" in reference to their great design ; and they had 
no doubt that the government which they might thus, by 
their vohmtary compact, originate, would have as perfect an 
authority to exercise all the functions of government as any 
potentate on earth. Do you call this bigotry or fanaticism, 
or narrowness ? Oh, no ; their view has become since 1776 
the only political orthodoxy on this side of the Atlantic. Yet 
it was this very thing, more than any merely religious pecu- 
liarities, which made New England so basely fanatical in the 
estimation of tory Englishmen. This strange enthusiasm of 
attempting to set up government by compact — this audacious 
doctrine, that the majesty of a state, with laws and powers 
ordained of God, could spring into being by the lifting up of 
the hands of a few exiles under the rafters of a barn, with no 
sanction of papal bull or royal charter — this it was, which in- 
spired the advocates of the theory of arbitrary and hereditary 
power, in England, and in this country too, with so bitter 
and relentless a hatred of New England fanaticism. 

4. There is in these proceedings no indication of an arbi- 
trary or domineering spirit in any quarter. Nothing is done 
by the authority of the leaders — nothing implies that any one 
among them was specially endowed with any supernatural 
gifts of knowledge or of power, or had any right to control 
the opinions or conduct of the others. On the contrary, every 
thing is done by argument, by an appeal to reason and to 
Scripture. The planters are seriously warned not to " give 
their votes to things they understand not," and are entreated 
to give their answers " without respect to men, as they should 
be satisfied and persuaded in their own minds." Every thing 
is done too in the spirit of mutual confidence and aftection. 
You see on the part of all a most respectful deference to 
the judgment and choice of the majority. You see the spirit 
of kindness, in the care with which they avoid putting upon 
the record, the name of the individual who was, as they 
esteemed it, so unfortunate as to differ from the rest in judg- 
ment. It seems to show that they were not inclined to re- 
member it against him. 



27 

5. We find, tlironghout this record, a profound respect for 
the authority of the Scriptures as interpreted by common 
sense. I refer here to a very sure test of enthusiasm. So 
long as you find a man ready to follow the Bible in its plain, 
common sense meaning, as interpreted by the aid of study 
and learning, and on the same principles which regulate the 
interpretation of other books, you may be very sure that he 
is no enthusiast. Enthusiasts find the Bible a very unsatis- 
factory book, and therefore they either get above the Bible, 
finding their own inward light much better, — or else resort 
to mystical systems of interpretation, by which they evolve 
from the Bible some secondary, recondite, spiritual sense, 
better suited to the exalted state of their imaginations. I 
lay it down then as a rule to which it will be very difficult 
to find any well established exception, that the man to whom 
the Bible in its obvious meaning as determined by the ordi- 
nary principles of interpretation, is a sufficient rule of faith 
and practice — the man who first exercises his judgment, and 
learning, and common sense, to determine what the Bible 
teaches, and what is its legitimate application to his conduct, 
and then yields to the authority of the Bible a profound and 
hearty deference — is no enthusiast. And where there is no 
enthusiasm — where common sense, studying the Bible, and 
yielding to its authority, governs the mind, there you will 
find nothing which deserves to be called fanaticism, unless 
you would make out that the Bible itself is fanatical. 

6. The whole record shows their earnestness and care to 
secure the great end of their migration hither. They knew 
perfectly well that there was a royal commission then in be- 
ing, which gave power of protection and government over all 
English colonies which had been or might be planted, to 
their old enemy Archbishop Laud with ten other courtiers 
of a kindred spirit.* They knew it was intended by the 
court, that the same iron rod which had been so heavy upon 
them in their native country, should strike them here in the 

" Kingsley, 14, 15. Hazard. I, IMl. HuhbanJ, '.'(i 



28 

wilderness. They knew that as soon as they should have 
built their houses and got their lands under cultivation, as 
soon as they should have enough of what was taxable and 
tithable to excite covetousness, the king would be sending 
over his needy profligates to govern them, and the archbishop 
his surpliced dependents to gather the tithes into his store- 
house. Knowing this, they were resolved to leave no door 
open for such an invasion. They came hither to establish a 
free Christian commonwealth ; and, to secure that end, they 
determined, that in their commonwealth, none should have 
any civil power, who either would not, or could not, enter 
at the door of church-fellowship. " They held themselves 
bound," they said, " to establish such civil order as might 
best conduce to the securing the purity and peace of the 
ordinances to themselves and their posterity." Was this 
fanatical ? Was this bigoted ? Place yourself in their cir- 
cumstances, with their convictions of the importance of truth, 
simplicity, and purity, in the worship of God ; and say what 
you could do, more rational or more manly. 

Where then, I ask again, was the bigotry, the fanaticism, 
the narrowness of mind, which you have seemed to see as 
you have read the record of the famous meeting in Mr. New- 
man's barn, at which wisdom builded her house, and hewed 
out her seven pillars ? You say, perhaps, that the constitu- 
tion itself which was then adopted, is the proof that they 
were fanatics. Who but bigots and fanatics, you ask, would 
think of constructing a government upon such principles? 

The constitution, if we may so call it, adopted at that 
meeting, contained these two principles only, — first, that in 
the choice of magistrates, the making and repealing of laws, 
the dividing of inheritances, and the deciding of dilferences, 
all should be governed by the rules held forth in Scripture ; 
and, secondly, that a man's Christian character, certified by 
the Church in the fact of his being a church-member, should 
be essential, not to his enjoying civil rights and privileges, 
but to liis exercising civil power. 



29 

If you believe the Bible to be a perfect rule of moral ac- 
tion, you are precluded from taking any exception against the 
first of these principles, as it stands upon the record. If you 
do not believe in the Bible as a rule of moral action, I confess 
I am not careful at present to answer you at all in this matter. 
The princi})le as it stands, is simply that Christianity — the 
ethics of Christianity, should be the constitution of the com- 
monwealth — the supreme law of the land. 

But give the principle another construction. Take it as it 
is commonly understood, and as, a few years afterwards, it 
was actually applied in practice. In 1644, it was ordered by 
the General Court of the jurisdiction, " that the judicial laws 
of God as they were delivered by Moses, and as they are a 
fence to the moral law, being neither typical nor ceremonial, 
nor having any reference to Canaan, shall be accounted of 
moral equity, and generally bind all offenders, and be a rule 
to all the courts in this jurisdiction in their proceedings against 
offenders, till they be branched out into particulars hereafter." 
Take this adoption of the civil laws of the Hebrew com- 
monwealth, about which malicious hearts and shallow brains 
have so employed their faculties ; and what is there in this, 
that should make us ashamed of our fathers ? — what that 
proves them to be fanatics or bigots ? 

Remember now that, situated as they were, they must 
adopt either the laws of England or some other known sys- 
tem. A system entirely new, they could not frame immedi- 
ately. Should they then adopt the laws of England as the 
laws of their young republic ? Those were the very laws 
from which they had fled. Those laws would subject them 
at once to the king, to the parliament, and to the prelates, in 
their several jurisdictions. The adoption of the laws of 
England would have been fatal to the object of their emi- 
gration. Should they then adopt the Roman civil law, which 
is the basis of the jurisprudence of most countries in Eu- 
rope ? That system is foreign to the genius of Englishmen, 
and to the spirit of freedom, and besides, was unknown to 
the body of the people for whom laws were to be provided. 



30 

"What other course remained to them, if they wished to sep- 
arate themselves from the power of the enemies who had 
driven them into banishment, and to provide for a complete 
and vital independence, but to adopt at once a system of 
laws which was in every man's hand, which every man read, 
and, as he was able, expounded in his family, and with 
which every subject of the jurisdiction could easily be made 
familiarly acquainted. 

And what was there of absurdity in this code, considered 
as a code for just such a settlement as this was ? Where are 
we, that we need to raise such a question ? Is it in a Chris- 
tian country, that the question must be argued, whether the 
Mosaic law, excluding whatever is typical, or ceremonial, or 
local, is absurd, as the basis or beginning of a system of ju- 
risprudence ? Suppose the planters of Quinnipiack had ta- 
ken as their rule, in the administration of justice, the laws of 
Solon, or Lycurgus, or the laws of the twelve tables : suppose 
the agreement had been, that the laws of King Alfred should 
be followed in the punishment of offenders, in the settlement 
of controversies between individuals, and in the division of 
estates : — where had been the absurdity ? Who will tell us, 
that the laws of Moses are less wise or equitable than the 
laws of any other of the legislators of antiquity ? 

The laws of Moses were given to a community emigrating 
from their native country, into a land which they were to ac- 
quire and occupy, for the great purpose of maintaining in 
simplicity and purity the worship of the one true God. The 
founders of this colony came hither for the self-same purpose. 
Their emigration from their native country was a religious 
emigration. Every other interest of their community was 
held subordinate to the purity of their religious faith and 
practice. So far then as this point of comparison is con- 
cerned, the laws which were given to Israel in the wilder- 
ness may have been suited to the wants of a religious colony 
planting itself in America. 

The laws of Moses were given to a people who were to 
live not only surrounded by heathen tribes on every frontier 



31 

save the seaboard, but also with heathen inhabitants, wor- 
shipers of the devil, intermixed among them, not fellow-citi- 
zens, but men of another and barbarous race ; and the laws 
were therefore framed with a special reference to the corrupt- 
ing influence of such neighborhood and intercourse. Similar 
to this was the condition of our fathers. The Canaanite was 
in the land, with his barbarian vices, with his heathenish and 
hideous superstitions ; and their servants and children were 
to be guarded against the contamination of intercourse with 
beings so degraded. 

The laws of the Hebrews were desired for a free people. 
Under those laws, so unlike all the institutions of oriental 
despotism, there was no absolute power, and, with the ex- 
ception of the hereditary priesthood, whose privileges as a 
class were well balanced by their labors and disabilities, no 
privileged classes. The aim of those laws was " equal and ex- 
act justice ;" and equal and exact justice is the only freedom. 
Equal and exact justice in the laws, and in the administra- 
tion of the laws, infuses freedom into the being of a people, 
secures the widest and most useful distribution of the means 
of enjoyment, and aftbrds scope for the activity, and health- 
ful stimulus to the affections, of every individual. The peo- 
ple whose habits and sentiments are formed mider such an 
administration of justice, will be a free people. 

But it is worth our while to notice two of the most im- 
portant effects of their renouncing the laws of England, and 
adopting the Mosaic law. In the first place, the principle 
on which inheritances were to be divided, was materially 
changed. The English law, except where some local usage 
prevails to the contrary, gives all real estate to the eldest son. 
This is the pillar of the English aristocracy. Let this one 
principle be taken away ; let estates, instead of passing un- 
divided to a single heir, be divided among many heirs, and 
that vast accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few great 
families is at an end. But the Jewish law divides inheritan- 
ces among all the children, giving to the eldest son, as the 
head of the family, only a double portion. This promotes 



32 

equality among the people, breaking up the rich man's great 
estate into as many portions as he has children, and thus 
insuring the constant division and general distribution of prop- 
erty. How diflferent is the aspect of this country now, from 
what it would have been, if the feudal law of inheritance had 
been from the beginning the law of the land ! How incal- 
culable has been the effect on the character of the people ! 

Notice in the next place, how great a change, in respect to 
the inflicting of capital punishments, was made by adopting 
the Hebrew laws, instead of the laws of England. By the 
laws of England, more than one hundred and fifty crimes 
were, till quite lately, punishable with death. By the laws 
which the New England colonists adopted, this bloody cata- 
logue was reduced to eleven.* On such a difference as this, 
it would be idle to expatiate. In determining what kind of 
men our fathers were, we are to compare their laws, not with 
ours, but with the laws which they renounced. The great- 
est and boldest improvement which has been made in crimi- 
nal jurisprudence, by any one act, since the dark ages, was 
that which was made by our fathers, when they determined, 
'' that the judicial laws of God, as they were delivered by 
Moses, and as they are a fence to the moral law, being neither 
typical, nor ceremonial, nor having any reference to Canaan, 
shall be accounted of moral equity, and generally bind all of- 
fenders, and be a rule to all the comts." "Whatever improve- 
ments in this respect we have made since their day, may be 
resolved into this : — We have learned to distinguish, better 
than they, between that in the laws of Moses which was of 
absolute obligation, being founded on permanent and uni- 
versal reasons only, and that which was ordained in reference 
to the peculiar circumstances of the Hebrew nation, and 
which was therefore temporary or local. 

So much for the first principle in the constitution adopted 
by the fathers of New Haven, namely, the principle that the 

* Murder, Treason, Perjury ag;iinst the life of another. Kidnapping, Besti- 
ality, Sodomy, Adultery, Blasphemy in the highest degree, Idolatry, Wileli- 
criift, Rebellion agninst parents. 



33 

Bible should be their rule of justice. As to the other prin- 
ciple, namely, that political power should be committed only 
to those men whose moral character, and whose sympathy 
with the great design of the plantation, should be certified 
by their being members of the Church, — I know not that I 
need to explain, any further, its equity or wisdom as a polit- 
ical measure. If we are to regard it as a measure for the en- 
couragement or promotion of piety, undoubtedly it must be 
pronounced a great mistake. Piety is not to be promoted by 
making it the condition of any civil or political distinctions. 
This they knew as well as we ; and when they introduced 
the principle in question into their " fundamental agree- 
ment," it was not for the sake of bestowing honors or privi- 
leges upon piety, but for the sake of guarding their liberty, 
and securing the end for which they had made themselves 
exiles. If you call their adoption of this principle fanati- 
cism, it is to be remembered that the same fanaticism runs 
through the history of England. How long has any man 
in England been permitted to hold any office under the 
crown, without being a communicant in the Church of Eng- 
land ? The same fanaticism had, up to that fourth of June, 
1639, characterized all nations, protestant or popish, Moham- 
medan or heathen ; nay, as Davenport said, " these very In- 
dians, that worship the Devil," acted on the same principle, 
so that in his judgment " it seemed to be a principle im- 
printed in the minds and hearts of all men in the equity of 
it."*" Call it fanaticism if you will. To that fanaticism 
which threw off the laws of England, and made these colo- 
nies Puritan commonwealths, we are indebted for our exist- 
ence as a distinct and independent nation. 

But after all, we may be told, they were Puritans. Well, 
what and who were the Puritans ? Need any man be 
ashamed of being descended from such ancestors ? 

There are those whose ideas of the Puritans are derived 
only from such authorities as Butler's Hudibras, Scott's ro- 

" Discourse about Cixil Goveniuienl, "24. 

5 



34 

mances, and similar fictions. There are those, still more 
unfortunate, who form their opinion of the character of the 
Puritans from what they read in such works as that most un- 
scrupulous and malicious of lying narratives, Peters' History 
of Connecticut. With persons whose historical knowledge 
is of this description, it would be a waste of time to argue. 
But those who know any thing of the history of England, 
may easily disabuse themselves of vulgar prejudices against 
the Puritans. 

What were the Puritans? The prejudices Avhich have 
been infused into so many minds from the light, popular lite- 
rature of England since the restoration, are ready to answer. 
The Puritans ! — every body knows what they were ; — an en- 
thusiastic religious sect, distinguished by peculiarities of dress 
and language, enemies of learning, haters of refinement and 
all social enjoyments, low-bred fanatics, crop-eared rebels, a 
rabble of roimd-hcads, whose preachers were cobblers and 
tinkers, ever turning their optics in upon their own inward 
light, and waging fierce war upon mince pies and plum pud- 
dings. It was easy for the courtiers of King Charles II, 
when the men of what they called "the Grand Rebellion," 
had gone from the scene of action, thus to make themselves 
merry with misrepresentations of the Puritans, and to laugh 
at the wit of Butler and of South ; but their fathers laughed 
not, when, in many a field of conflict, the chivalry of Eng- 
land skipped like lambs, and proud banners rich with Nor- 
man heraldry, and emblazoned with bearings that had been 
stars of victory at Cressy and at Poictiers, were trailed in dust 
before the round-head regiments of Cromwell. 

What were the Puritans ? Let sober history answer. They 
were a great religious and political party, in a country and in 
an age in which every man's religion was a matter of political 
regulation. They were in their day the reformmg party in 
the church and state of England. They were a party in- 
cluding, like all other great parties, religious or political, a 
great variety of character, and men of all conditions in soci- 
ety. There were noblemen among them, and there were 



35 

peasants ; but the bulk of the party was in tlie middling 
classes, the classes which the progress of commerce and civ- 
ilization, and free thought, had created between the degraded 
peasantry and the corrupt aristocracy. The strong holds of 
the party were in the great commercial towns, and especially 
among the merchants and tradesmen of the metropolis. There 
were doubtless some hypocrites among them, and some men 
of unsettled opinions, and some of loose morals, and some 
actuated by no higher sentiment than party spirit ; but the 
party as a whole was characterized by a devoted love of 
country, by strict and stern moralit}^, by hearty, fervent piety, 
and by the strongest attachment to sound, evangelical doc- 
trines. There were ignorant men among them, and weak 
men ; but comparing the two parties as masses, theirs was 
was the intelligent and thinking party. There were among 
them some men of low ambition, some of a restless, envious, 
leveling temper, some of narrow views ; but the party as a 
whole, was the patriotic party, it stood for popular rights, for 
the liberties of England, for law against prerogative, for the 
doctrine that kings and magistrates were made for the people, 
and not the people for kings — ministers for the Church, and 
not the Church for ministers. 

Who were the Puritans ? Enemies of learning did you 
say ? You have heard of Lightfoot, second in scholarship 
to no other man, whose researches into all sorts of lore are 
even at this day the great store-house from which the most 
learned and renowned commentators, not of England and 
America only, but of Germany, derive no insignificant por- 
tion of their learning. Lightfoot was a Puritan.* You may 
have heard of Theophilus Gale, whose works have never 
yet been surpassed for minute and laborious investigation 
into the sources of all the wisdom of the Gentiles. Gale 
was a Puritan. You may have heard of Owen, the fame of 
whose learning, not less than of his genius and his skill, filled 
all Europe, and constrained the most determined enemies of 

* Lightfoot was a member of tlie Westminster Assembly of Divines. Af- 
ter the restoration, he conformed to ilie Established ChiircJi. 



36 

him, and of his party, to pay him the profomidest deference. 
Owen was, among divines, the very head and captain of the 
Puritans. You may have heard of Selden, the jurist, the 
universal scholar, whose learning was in his day, and is even 
at this day, the "glory of the English nation." Selden was 
a Puritan,* Strange that such men should have been iden- 
tified with the enemies of learning. 

The Puritans triumphed for a while. They beat down 
not only the prelacy, but the peerage, and the throne. And 
what did they do with the universities ? The universities 
were indeed revolutionized by commissioners from the Puri- 
tan Parliament ; and all who were enemies to the Common- 
wealth of England, as then established, were turned out of 
the seats of instruction and government. But were the rev- 
enues of the universities confiscated ? — their halls given up 
to pillage ? — their libraries scattered and destroyed ? Never 
were the universities of England better regulated, never did 
they better answer the legitimate ends of such institutions, 
than when they were under the control of the Puritans. 

Who were the Puritans ? Enemies, did you say, of lite- 
rature and refinement ? What is the most resplendent name 
in the literature of England ? Name that most illustrious of 
poets, who for magnificence of imagination, for grandeur of 
thought, for purity, beauty, and tenderness of sentiment, for 
harmony of numbers, for power and felicity of language, 
stands without a rival. Milton was a Puritan. 

Who were the low-bred fanatics, the crop-eared rebels, the 
rabble of round-heads ? Name that purest patriot whose 
name stands brightest and most honored in the history of 
English liberty, and whose example is ever the star of guid- 
ance and of hope, to all who resist usurped authority. Hamp- 
den was a Puritan, — associate with Pym in the eloquence 
that swayed the Parliament and " fulmin'd" over England, 
comrade in arms with Cromwell, and shedding his blood 
upon the battle-field. 

* Scklcn was one of the lay members of the Westminster Assembly. 



37 

But their preachers were cobblers and tinkers ! Were they 
indeed ? Well, and what were Christ's apostles ? One tinker 
I remember, among the preachers of that age, and of that 
great party — though not, in the most proper meaning of the 
word, a Puritan ; and what name is more worthy of a place 
among the names of the elected fishermen of Galilee, than 
the name of Bunyan ? That tinker, shut up in Bedford jail 
for the crime of preaching, saw there with the eye of faith 
and genius, visions only less divine than those which were 
revealed to his namesake in Patmos. His " Pilgrim's Pro- 
gress" lives in all the languages of Christendom, among the 
most immortal of the works of human genius. Would that 
all preachers were gifted like that tinker Bunyan ! 

But the Puritan preachers cannot be characterized as illite- 
rate, or as men who had been trained to mechanical employ- 
ments. They were men from the universities, skilled in the 
learning of the age, and well equipped for the work of preach- 
ing. Never has England seen a more illustrious company of 
preachers than when Baxter, Owen, Bates, Charnock, Howe, 
and two thousand others of inferior attainments indeed, but 
of kindred spirit, labored in the pulpits of the establishment. 
Never has any ministry in the Church of England done more, 
in the same time, and under similar disadvantages, for the 
advancement of the people in the knowledge of Christian 
truth, and in the practice of Christian piety, than was done 
by the ministry of the Puritans. Whence came the best and 
most famous of those books of devotion, and of experimen- 
tal and practical piety, which have so enriched our language, 
and by which the authors preach to all generations. The 
" Saint's Rest," the " Call to the Unconverted," the " Bless- 
edness of the Righteous," the "Living Temple," these, and 
other works like these, which have been the means of lead- 
ing thousands to God the eternal fountain, — are the works of 
Piu-itan preachers. 

Let me not be considered as maintaining that the Puritans 
were faultless or infallible. I know they had faults, great 
faults. I know they fell into serious errors. By their errors 



38 

and faults, the great cause which their virtue so earnestly 
espoused, and their valor so strongly defended, was wrecked 
and almost ruined. But dearly did they pay, in disappoint- 
ment, in persecution, in many sufferings, in the contempt 
which was heaped upon them by the infatuated people they 
had vainly struggled to emancipate, — the penalty of their 
faults and errors. And richly have their posterity, inhabiting 
both hemispheres, enjoyed, in well ordered liberty, in the 
diffusion of knowledge, and in the saving influences of pure 
Christianity, — the purchase of their sufferings, the reward of 
their virtues and their valor. 



DISCOURSE III. 

ECCLESIASTICAL FORMS AND USAGES OF THE FIRST AGE IN 
NEW ENGLAND. 

Joshua xxiv, 31. — And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joslma, and 
all the days of the ciders tiiat ov(;rlived Joshua, and who had known all tlie 
works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel. 

In the present discourse, as preliminary to some sketches 
of remarkable individuals among the members of this Church 
in that generation which came out of England, I shall notice 
several particulars not yet touched upon, respecting the history 
of the Church as a community at that period. 

With what solemnities the formal constituting of the 
Church, by the seven men appointed for that purpose, was at- 
tended, is not upon those records which have come down to us. 
We know, however, what were the forms generally observed 
on similar occasions, at the same period ; and, presuming that 
the same forms were observed here, we may easily imagine 
something of the transactions of that day.* At an early hour, 
probably not far from 8 o'clock in the morning, the congre- 
gation assembled. Tradition says, that the assembly was 
under the same broad oak, under which they had kept their 
first Sabbath. After public exercises of preaching and prayer, 
"about the space of four or five hours," those who are first to 
unite in the church covenant, the seven pillars in the house 
of wisdom, stand forth before the congregation, and the el- 
ders and delegates from neighboring Churches, — for, prob- 
ably, such were present from the Churches on the river. 
In the first place, that all present may be satisfied respecting 
the personal piety of the men who are to begin the Church, 
all the seven successively make a declaration of their religious 
experience, — what has been the history of their minds, and 

* Johnson, Wonder-working Prov. II, Mass. Hist. Coll. vii, 40. 



40 

what have been the influences and effects of God's grace 
upon them. Next, that they may make it clear, that their 
confidence in Christ rests upon Christ as revealed in the Word, 
they, either severally or jointly, make profession of their faith, 
declaring those great and leading doctrines which they re- 
ceive as the substance of the gospel. If on any point farther 
explanations are desired, questions are proposed by the rep- 
resentatives of neighboring Churches, till all are satisfied. 
Then they unitedly express their assent to a written form of 
covenant, in nearly the same words in which the covenant of 
this Church is now expressed ; — after which they receive 
from the representatives of the neighboring Churches, the 
right hand of fellowship, recognizing them as a Church of 
Christ, invested with all the powers and privileges which 
Christ has given to liis Churches. 

The election and ordination of officers, followed very soon 
after the organization of the Churcli. Mr. Davenport who was, 
perhaps even more than any other man, the leader of the enter- 
prise, was chosen pastor. The office of teacher, and that of rul- 
ing elder, appear to have been left vacant for a season. Mr. 
Samuel Eaton, who is sometimes spoken of as having been 
colleague with Mr. Davenport,* appears not to have sustained 
that relation after the Church was duly gathered. The first 
deacons were Robert Newman and Matthew Gilbert, who 
were both in the original foundation of the Church. Mr. 
Davenport, like nearly all the other ministers who emigrated 
to this country in that age, had been regularly ordained to 
the ministry in the Church of England, by the laying on of 
the hands of a bishop. Yet that ordination was not consid- 
ered as giving him office or power in this Church, any 
more than a man's having been a magistrate in England, 
would give him power to administer justice in this jurisdic- 
tion. Accordingly he was ordained, or solemnly inducted 
into office, Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone, elders of the Cimrch 
in Hartford, being present, as tradition says, to assist in the 

* Truinbull, I, 28G. 



41 

solemnity.* The act of ordination, however, in such cases, 
was performed by two or more brethren in the name of the 
Church, laying their hands upon the head of the pastor elect, 
with some such form of words as this, " We ordain thee to 
be pastor unto this Church of Christ ;" after which one of the 
elders present from other Churches, proceeded in prayer to 
God for his special assistance to his servant in the work, and 
for his blessing upon the Church, the pastor, and the congre- 
gation.! The pastor having been thus inducted into office, 
ordained the deacons. 

The question doubtless arises with some — Could such an 
ordination have any validity, or confer on the pastor thus or- 
dained any authority ? Can men, by a voluntary compact, 
form themselves into a Church ? and can the Church thus 
formed impart to its own officers the power of administering 
ordinances ? If Davenport had not been previously ordained 
in England, would not his administration of ordinances have 
been sacrilege ? Answer me another question : How could 
the meeting which convened in Mr. Newman's barn, origin- 
ate a commonwealth ? How could the commonwealth thus 
originated, impart the divine authority and dignity of magis- 
trates to officers of its own election ? How could a few men 
coming together here in the wilderness, without commission 
from king or parliament, by a mere voluntary compact among 
themselves, give being to a state ? How can the state thus 
instituted, have power to make laws which shall bind the 
minority ? What right had they to erect tribunals of justice ? 
What right to wield the sword ? What right to inflict pun- 
ishment, even to death, upon olfenders ? Is not civil gov- 
ernment a divine institution, as really as baptism and the 
Lord's supper ? Is not the " duly constituted" magistrate as 
truly the minister of God, as he who presides over the Church 
and labors in word and doctrine ? Whence then came the 
authority with which that self constituted state, meeting in 
Mr. Newman's barn, invested its elected magistrates ? It came 



' Trumbull, I, 285. t Sec Appendix No. II. 



42 

directly from God, the only fountain of authority. Just as 
directly from the same God, came the authority witli which 
the equally self constituted Church, meeting in the same 
place, invested, its elected pastor. Could the one give to its 
magistrates power to hang a murderer in the name of God, — 
and could not the other give to its elders power to administer 
baptism ?* 

In the year 1644, the Rev. William Hooke, who had been 
a minister of the Church of England, and who upon the first 
settlement of Taunton in the Plymouth colony, became pas- 
tor of the Church there, was ordained teacher in this Church ; 
and at the same time, probably, Mr. Robert Newman, one of 
the first deacons, Avas ordained ruling elder. The ordina- 
tion in this case was of course performed by Mr. Davenport, 
Mr. Hooke preaching, on the occasion, his own inauguration 
sermon. Thus the Church became completely supplied with 
the officers which every Church in that day Avas supposed to 
need. It had within itself a complete presbytery — a full 
body of ordained elders, competent to maintain a regular suc- 
cession, Avithout any dependence on the supposed ordaining 
power of ministers out of the Church, and Avithout any neces- 
sity of resorting to the extraordinary measure of ordination 
by persons specially delegated for that purpose. 

The three elders, one of Avhom Avas to give attention 
chiefly to the administration of the order and government of 
the Church, Avliile the others Avere to labor in Avord and doc- 
trine, were all equally and in the same sense " elders," or 
" overseers" of the flock of God. The one Avas a mere 



* Those who admire " the judicious Hooker," onglit not to be startled at 
this doctrine. Richard Hooker argues thus : " Another extraordinary kind 
of vocation is where the exigence of necessity doth constrain to leave the 
usual ways of the Church, which otherwise we would willingly keep. Where 
the Church must needs have some ordained, and neither hath nor can possi- 
bly have a bishop to ordain; in case of such necessit}', the ordinary institu- 
tion of God hath given oftentimes, and may give place. And therefore we 
are not, simply without exception, to urge a lineal descent of power from the 
apostles, by continued succession of bishops in every effectual ordination." — 
Eccl. Pol., B. vil, ch. 14. 



43 

elder ; but the others were elders called to the work of 
preaching. The distinction between pastor and teacher was 
theoretical, rather than of any practical importance. Both 
were, in the highest sense, ministers of the gospel ; as col- 
leagues, they preached by turns on the Lord's day, and on 
all other public occasions ; they had an equal share in the 
administration of discipline ; and if Mr. Davenport was more 
venerated than Mr. Hooke, and had more influence in the 
Church and in the community generally, it was more because 
of the acknowledged personal superiority of the former in 
respect to age and gifts and learning, than because of any 
official disparity. The Cambridge Platform, which was 
framed in 1648, and with which Mr. Davenport, in his wri- 
tings on church government, fully agrees, says, in defining 
the dilference between pastors and teachers, " The pastor's 
special work is to attend to exhortation, and therein to ad- 
minister a word of wisdom ; the teacher is to attend to doc- 
trine, and therein to administer a word of knowledge ; and 
either of them to administer the seals of that covenant unto 
the dispensation whereof they are alike called ; and also to 
execute the censures, being but a kind of application of the 
word : the preaching of which, together with the application 
thereof, they are alike charged withall."* The pastor and 
teacher gave themselves wholly to their ministry and their 
studies, and accordingly received a support from the people ; 
they might properly be called clergymen. f The ruling 
elder was not necessarily educated for the ministry ; he 
might, without impropriety, pursue some secular calling ; 
and though he fed the flock occasionally with " a word of 
admonition," the ministry was not his profession. Inas- 
much as he did not live by the ministry, he was a layman. 



* Chap, vi, Sect. 5. 

t In England, a clergyman is a minister of the Established Church. In 
this country, if the word has any proper meaning, it means, not every one 
who preaches, or every one who is licensed or ordained, but a minister who 
makes the ministry his profession. A merchant or mechanic may preach, 
and may be ordained ; but if he pursues his secular calling, he is not a cler- 
gyman. 



44 

The ministers were supported, not from the treasmy of the 
town — for the town as a civil corporation had nothing to do 
with them — but from the church treasury kept by the dea- 
cons, and this church treasury was supphed by vohmtary con- 
tributions.* This appears to have been the method till some 
time after the union of the New Haven colony with Connec- 
ticut. Instead of the assessment and collection of a tax, as 
for the expenses of the civil government, each member of the 
congregation was called upon to manifest his liberality, his 
sense of justice, his affection for the elders, and his regard 
for ihe ordinances, by contributing, of his own will, as God 
had prospered him. The first approach towards a tax for the 
support of the ministry, was made, when it was enacted, 
that if any man refused to contribute, or contributed what 
was manifestly below his just proportion, he might be com- 
pelled to do his duty in this matter.f 

In regard to the views of Christian doctrine entertained by 
the founders of this Church, my design, at present, will not 
permit me to go into particulars. It is sufficient to say, in 
general, that their doctrines were those of the Reformation, 
the doctrines of Calvin and of the articles and homilies of 
the. Church of England, the doctrines of such bishops as 
Latimer and Ridley, and of such archbishops as Cranmer and 
Abbott, the same doctrines which were held by their cotem- 
poraries and brethren, the divines of the Westminster Assem- 
bly. While they regarded with great dislike the scheme of 
doctrine which, by the influence of Laud, had then lately 
become characteristic of the adherents of prelacy, and from 
the unhappy influence of which the Church of England is 
now at last partly delivered ; they had no sympathy with the 
mysticism and antinomianism which, in that age of excite- 
ment, broke out in so many forms in various quarters. 



* With some this was considered a matter of divine appointnif nt. Cong. 
Way Justified, 9. 

t This was tlie provision of Gov. Eaton's rode. 



45 

Their mode of conducting public worship was not materi- 
ally unlike our method at this day.* Every sabbath they 
came together at the beat of drum, about nine o'clock, or 
before. The pastor began with solemn prayer, continuing 
about a quarter of an hour. The teacher then read and ex- 
pounded a chapter. Then a psalm was sung, the lines being 
given out by the ruling elder. After that, the pastor deliv- 
ered his sermon, not written out in full, but from notes en- 
larged upon in speaking. In this Church, at an early period, 
it was customary for the congregation to rise while the 
preacher read his text. This was a token of reverence for 
the word of God.f After the sermon, the teacher concluded 
with prayer and a blessing. 

Once a month, as now, the Lord's supper was celebrated 
at the close of the morning service, in precisely the same 
forms which we observe, — the pastor, teacher and ruling el- 
der sitting together at the communion table. One of the 
ministers performed the first part of the service, and the other 
the last, the order in which they officiated being reversed at 
each communion. 

The assembly convened again for the exercises of the af- 
ternoon at about two o'clock ; and the pastor having com- 
menced as in the morning with prayer, and a psalm having 
been sung as before, another prayer was offered by the teacher, 
who then preached, as the pastor did in the morning, and 
prayed again. 

Tlien, if there was any occasion, baptism was administered, 
by either pastor or teacher, the officiating minister commonly 
accompanying the ordinance with exhortation addressed to 
the Church and to the parents. 

Next in the order of services, was the contribution, made 
every Lord's day to the treasury of the Church. One of the 
deacons, rising in his place, said, " Brethren of the congrega- 
tion, now there is time left for contribution, wherefore as God 



* Most of tlie particulars that follow are derived from l-ocliford's Plaine 
Dealing. 

t Iliitcli. T,4.J0. 



46 

hath prospered you, so freely offer." The ministers, when- 
ever there was any extraordinary occasion, were wont to ac- 
company the call with some earnest exhortation ont of the 
Scriptures urging to liberality. The contribution was re- 
ceived, not by passing a box from seat to seat, but first the 
magistrates and principal gentlemen, then the elders, and 
then the congregation generally, came up to the deacon's 
seat by one way and returned orderly to their own seats by 
another way.* Each individual contributed either money, 
or a written promise to pay some certain amount, or any thing 
else that was convenient and proper. Money and subscrip- 
tions were placed in the contribution box, — other offerings 
were laid down before the deacons. It may be that some of 
the ancient silver cups now used in our monthly communion, 
Avere given in this way. 

After the contribution, the assembly being not yet dis- 
missed, if there were any members to be admitted into the 
Church, or any to be propounded for admission, or if there 
were cases of offense and discipline to be acted upon by the 
Church, such things were attended to ; and then another 
psalm was sung, if the day was not too far spent, and the 
pastor closed the services with prayer and the blessing. 

In the Church, a meeting was held weekly on Tuesday, 
where the members of the Church by themselves conferred 
together on religious subjects, and the ministers, as they had 
occasion, communicated appropriate instruction and exhorta- 
tion.f There were also stated '' private meetings"' in the 
different districts of the town, at which the brethren exercised 
their gifts for mutual instruction and edification.J Besides 
which, there was a stated public lecture on Wednesday, 
whether monthly before the communion, or more frequently, 
I am not able to determine. 

The discipline of offenders against the laws of Christ, was 
strict, and conducted with no respect of persons. *§. Every 

* Many allusions in the Records of the Church and of the town, confirm 
Lechford's testimony on this point. t Church Records. 

I Town Records. 7th Aug. 165.5. § See Appendix III. 



47 

case that was brought before the Church at all, was made 
ready for the action of the Cluirch by the elders, and chiefly 
by the ruling elder. At the proper time, the oftender was 
called forth by the ruling elder. A statement was made show- 
ing the previous proceedings in the case, after which the rul- 
ing elder read the particulars charged, showing under each 
particular, what rule of the word of God was broken. Ev- 
ery specification was proved by the testimony of at least two 
witnesses. After the reading of the charges with the testi- 
mony, the ruling elder called on the ofi;ender to object, if he 
would, to the facts tliat were charged upon him. The of- 
fender having spoken, or declined speaking, it was put to the 
brethren, to declare by their vote, whether the facts were 
sufficiently proved by the witnesses. This point having 
been decided, it was next put to the brethren, to declare by 
their vote, whether the several rules the violation of which 
was charged upon the offender, were rightly applied to the 
several facts. This having been voted, it was proposed to 
the brethen to consider whether, in view of the facts proved, 
and of the rules broken, the offender should presently be cast 
out, or whether the case would admit of an admonition only 
at the present time. If on this question there seemed any 
want of clearness or unanimity, one or both of the ministers 
spoke to " hold forth light" and to clear away perplexities. 
If it was decided that admonition was sufficient for the pres- 
ent, the sentence of admonition was forthwith pronoiuiced 
by the pastor, if the offense was one that related to morals, 
or by the teacher if it was an offense in respect to doctrine. 
After a public admonition, the Church of course waited for a 
proper time, "expecting the fruit of it" in the repentance 
and reformation of the offender. Meanwhile the elders la- 
bored with him as they had opportunity, to further his repent- 
ance. Bat if after a proper time there appeared in the offender 
no satisfactory evidence of inward reformation, the case was 
taken up again, and in the presence perhaps of delegates 
from other Churches, the sentence of excommunication was 
solemnly pronounced. It is reported by one Avritcr of that 



48 

age, as a strange peculiarity, "that at New Haven, alias 
Q^uinapeag, where Master Davenport is Pastor," an excom- 
municated person was not allowed to enter into the worship- 
ing assembly at all, till by the consent of the Church, and by 
a formal absolution, the censure was taken off.* I should 
have presumed this to be a mistake, had I not found in our 
early church records some incidental expressions which seem 
to confirm it. 

The first house for public worship erected in New Haven, 
was commenced in 1639. The order that such a house 
should be built forthwith, was passed in the town meeting, 
on the 25th of November. The cost of the building was to 
be £500; and to raise that sum, a tax of 1^ per cent, was 
levied, all to be paid before the following May. The house 
was fifty feet square. It had a tower, surmounted with a 
turret. It is said to have stood near the spot where the flag- 
staff now stands ; but it seems more than probable that it 
stood farther west, perhaps half way between that spot and 
the spot where this house stands. 

The internal arrangements of the house, so far as a know- 
ledge of them can be gathered from the records, or inferred 
from what we know of the primitive meeting-houses, are 
easily described. Immediately before the pulpit, and facing 
the congregation, was an elevated seat for the ruling elder ; 
and before that, somewhat lower, was a seat for the deacons, 
behind the communion table. On the floor of the house 
there were neither pews nor slips, but plain seats. On each 
side of what we may call the center aisle, were nine, of suffi- 
cient length to accommodate five or six persons. On each 
side of the pulpit at the end, were five cross seats, and ano- 
ther shorter than the five. Along each wall of the house, 
between the cross seats and the side door, were four seats, 

* Lechford, 13. Lechford was probably lawyer enough to know ihat ihe 
same rule obtained in the Church of England, and that the excommunicate, 
besides being excluded from the place of worship, was liable to a penalty 
every Sunday for his constrained absence. Good old Oliver lleywood found 
tliat tiiis was no dead letter. Iloywood, Works, 1, 100. 



49 

and beyond the side door, six. The men and women were 
seated separately on opposite sides of the house ; and every 
one, according to his office or his age or his ranlc in society, 
had his place assigned by a committee appointed for that pur- 
pose.* The children and yoimg people, at the first seating, 
seem to have been left to find their own places, away from 
their parents, in that part of the house which was not occu- 
pied with seats prepared at the town's expense. If this was 
the case, it cannot be wondered at, that within five or six 
years after the first seating, and so on as long as the practice 
continued, the regulation of the boys in the meeting house, 
and the ways and means of suppressing disorders among 
them, were frequent subjects of discussion and enactment in 
the town meetings. A congregation ought always to present 

..itself in the house of God by families. The separating of 
the heads of the family from each other, and the children 
from both, in the house of God, was a serious and mischiev- 
ous mistake. 

That humble edifice, — humble in comparison with the 
spacious and beautiful structures that now adorn the same 

. green spot, — was built and maintained in repair with an hon- 
orable zeal for public worship. It was one of the many 
calamities of the colonists here, that the meeting house, 
through the unfaithfulness or incompetency of some of the 
workmen, very soon began to require expensive repairs. The 
main posts of the building not being properly secured, it be- 
came necessary in a few years to keep them in their places by 
shores and props, — a circumstance which helped Mr. Daven- 
port to an illustration, when in one of his sermons, showing 
that as Laban fared the better for Jacob ; Potipliar, Pharaoh, 
and all Egypt for Joseph ; the inhabitants of Sodom for Lot ; 
and the mariners and all that were in the ship for Paul ; so 
the world fares the better for the saints — he added, '- The holy 
seed are (ri'n^Jj) the props that shore up the places where 
they live, that the wrath of God does not overwhelm them."f 

* See Appendix No. IV. i Saints' Anchor-hold, 2A. 



50 

In such a temple, the fathers of New Haven mauitained 
the worship and ordinances of God for about thirty years. 
During all that time they never met for worship, even in the 
most tranquil times, without a complete military guard. As 
early as 1640, we find upon the records an order, that " every 
man that is appointed to watch, whether masters or servants, 
shall come every Lord's day to the meeting completely armed ; 
and all others, also, are to bring their swords, no man exempted 
save Mr. Eaton, our Pastor, Mr. James, Mr. Samuel Eaton, 
and the two deacons." And from time to time, the number 
of men that were to bear arms on the Sabbath days, and 
other days of public assembly, the time at which they should 
appear at the meeting house, and the places which they should 
occupy, were made the subjects of particular regulation. Seats 
were placed, on each side of the front door, for the soldiers. 
A sentinel was stationed in the turret. Armed watchmen 
paced the streets, while the people were assembled for wor- 
ship. And whenever rumors came of conspiracies among 
the Indians at a distance, or there seemed to be any special 
occasion of alarm, the Sabbath guards and sentries at once 
became more vigilant, and the house of God bristled with 
augmented preparations for defense. For example, in March, 
1653, there being apprehensions of an Indian invasion, and a 
town meeting being held, that nothing needful in such cir- 
cumstances might be neglected, we find it ordered, among 
other particulars, that " the door of the meeting house next 
the soldiers' seat be kept clear from women and children sit- 
ting there, that if there be occasion for the soldiers to go sud- 
denly forth, they may have a free passage." Of the six 
pieces of artillery belonging to the town, three were stationed 
always by the water side, and three by the meeting house. 
Twice before each assembly, the drum was beaten in the tur- 
ret and along the principal streets, and when the congregation 
came together, it presented the appearance of an assembly in 
a garrison. 

Yet how strictly were their Sabbaths sanctified. " From 
evening to evening," no unnecessary labor was any where 



51 

permitted. Let us go back, for a moment, to one of those 
ancient Sabbaths. You see in the morning no motion, sav^e 
as the herds go forth to their pasture in the common grounds, 
each herd accompanied by two or three armed lierdsmen. 
At the appointed hour, the drum having been beaten both 
the first time and the second, the whole population, from 
the dwellings of the town, and from the farms on the other side 
of the river, come together in the place of prayer. The senti- 
nel is placed in the turret ; those who are to keep ward, go 
forth, pacing, two by two, the still green lanes. In the mean 
time, we take our places in the assembly. In this rude un- 
finished structure, is devotion true and pure, — worship, more 
solemn for the lack of outward pomp. The learned and 
fervent Davenport, and the rhetorical and polished Hooke, 
divide between them the duties of the pulpit. Before them are 
such hearers as the honored Eaton, Goodyear, and Gregson ; 
the warriors Turner and Seely ; the Newmans, discreet and 
beloved ; the modest and true hearted Gibbard ; and, that ter- 
ror to inattentive school boys, Master Ezekiel Cheever.* 
Sometimes, too, we might see in the audience, that father of 
his country, venerable alike as a philosopher, a statesman, a 
patriot and a saint, — the younger Winthrop.f Through a 
long course of exercises, which would weary out the men of 
our degenerate days, these hearers sit or stand with most ex- 
emplary attention. They love the word that comes from the 
lips of their pastor. They love the order of this house. For 
the privilege of uniting in these forms of worship, of hearing 
the gospel thus preached, of living under this religious con- 
stitution, and of thus extending in the world the kingdom 
which is righteousness and peace and joy, they undertook the 
work of planting this wilderness. To them each sermon, 
every prayer, every tranquil Sabbath is the more precious for 
all that it has cost them. It is not strange, then, that their 

* Some account of several of the wortiiics named above, will he found in 
the Appendix No. V. 

I The read(T will also find some notices of Governor Winthrop in the Ap- 
pendix No. VI. 



52 

attention is awake through these long services, till, as the 
day declines, they retire to their dwellings, and close the 
Sabbath with family worship and the catechising of their 
children. I seem to hear the utterance of their piety in that 
old stave of Sternhold and Hopkins : 

" Go walke about all Syon hill, yea round about her go ; 
And tell the towres that thereupon are builded on a roe : 
And marke you well her buhvarkes all, behold her towres there ; 
That ye may tell thereof to them that after shall be here. 
For this God is our God, forevermore is hee; 
Yea and unto the death also, our guider shall he be." 

Thus the years went on, each year bringing its changes, 
its hopes, its disappointments and sorrows ; till those who 
came hither in the prime of life, had grown gray and feeble, 
or were seen no more. Meanwhile one spot behind the meet- 
ing house, marked with a few rude monumental stones, was 
becoming continually more and more sacred to the affections 
of the people. One and another, with whom they had often 
walked to the house of God, — one and another whose faith 
had dared the sea, and whose constancy had triumphed over 
the temptations of the wilderness, had there been gathered to 
the congregation of the dead. There slept the pious Edward 
Tench and his wife, who dying within a few months after 
their arrival here, had committed their only child to God and 
to the Church, "by faith, giving commandment" concerning 
the child, that it should not "go back to the country from 
which they had come forth."* There one of the first graves 
was made for the widow of that Francis Higginson who was 
the first minister of Salem, and who dying just after his set- 
tlement there, had left her with eight young children to the 
protection of a covenant God.f There, after the lapse of 
some twenty years from the beginning, when many of the 
loved and honored among them had rested from their labors, 
the dust of AllertoUjJ one of the most distinguished of the 

* See Appendix No. VII. t Kingsley,Hist. Di.sc. 5.5, 102. 

t Isaac Allerton was the fifth of the signers of the celebrated civil compact 
of Nov. 1 1 , 1620. He was a principal man in the Plymoutli Colony, and was 



53 

Pilgrims of the May Flower, was laid among the fathers of 
New Haven. And every new mound that was erected there, 
fastened some survivor to the soil, by a new tie of sacred af- 
fection. Who, when he thinks of dying, would not rather 
die where he may be buried among the graves of his kindred. 
When the emigrant turns his face towards some new coimtry, 
it is painful to leave the familiar walks, the haunts of child- 
hood, the old homestead, but more painful still to leave the 
sanctuary and the burial place. Those little graves, which 
the mother visits so often, weeping, — that green mound, 
which covers the dust of a parent or a brother, — that blos- 
soming shrub, which sheds its annual fragrance round a sis- 
ter's resting place — every thing here is holy to the eye of 
affection. 

Such considerations, doubtless, had an influence in deter- 
mining the colonists of New Haven, once and again, during 
the period of their deepest depression, not to abandon the set- 
tlement. When the plan of removing to Delaware Bay was 
seriously agitated ; when their friend Cromwell proposed to 
them a home in Jamaica ; when he offered them a place with 
many privileges in Ireland ; it was not a mere calculation of 
interest, certainly, — far less was it a mere deficiency of the 
spirit of enterprise, — that prevented the removal. It was in 
part the force of affection, a natural sentiment of attachment 
to the soil that had been hallowed by labor and peril, by hope 
and disappointment, by happiness and grief, by having been 
the birth place of their children, and by embosoming the 
ashes of their friends. He who has no such attachment to 
the soil on which he lives and has his home, lacks one of the 
better elements of human nature. This is one ingredient of 
the complicated sentiment which we call love of country. 

one year deputy governor there. lie was a merchant, and deserves a monu- 
ment as the father of the commerce of New England. Owing to some cause, 
not now to be exphiincd,— perhaps an attachment to Roger Williams,— he 
left Plymouth, about the year 1G33, and established himself at Marblehead, 
then a part of Salem. Afterwards he resided at the Manhadoes. In the year 
1647, we find him an inhabitant of New Haven ; and hero he died in Kwi}.— 
Ill, Mas3. Hist. Coll. vii, 243. 



54 

What New Englander is he who does not love the soil of 
New England, and take pleasure in the stones and dust 
thereof? To us these mountains are dear, these rushing 
streams, these rocks and valleys — dear by all the associations 
of ancient devotion and valor, or of living affection and en- 
joyment, that cluster around each spot, adorning the rude 
forms of nature with invisible beauty. 

The graves of the fathers are among us : our sanctuaries, our 
seats of legislation and of justice, our schools, our very dwel- 
lings are their monument. The land itself that spreads its 
green sod over their dust, — this land of their hardships and 
perils, now covered with civilization, filled with wealth, and 
decorated with multiplying works of art, is their mausoleum. 
Never may their graves be found among a people disowning 
their spirit, or dishonoring their memory. 



DISCOURSE IV. 

SPECIMENS OF PURITAN MINISTERS IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONV. 
PRUDDENj SHERMAN, JAMES, EATON, HOOKE. 

Heb. xiii, 7, 8. — * * * Whose faith follow, considering the end of their 
conversation ; Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever. 

I PROCEED now to give some notices of the lives and char- 
acters of a few among the founders of this rehgious society ; 
so far as distinct memorials of them can be gathered from 
various records and historical documents. 

Five ministers of the gospel, educated at the English Uni- 
versities, were in the company which came from Boston to 
Q-uinnipiack in 1638 ; — two of whom, the Rev. Peter Prud- 
den and the Rev. John Sherman, went to Milford ; the other 
three, the Rev. Thomas James, the Rev. Samuel Eaton, and 
the Rev. John Davenport, remained here. 

Though it does not pertain to the design of these discourses 
to speak particularly of the first two, it will not be improper 
to bestow a few words upon each of them. Mr. Prudden 
came from England with Mr. Davenport in 1637, having 
previously labored with great success in his native country, 
and being followed by a company of people from Hereford- 
shire, and the adjoining parts of Wales, Avho expected still to 
enjoy his ministry. He was ordained pastor of the Church 
in Milford in 1640, — ^the ordination being performed at New 
Haven, — and continued in that office till his death, in 1656. 
Cotton Mather testifies concerning him, that " besides his 
other excellent qualities, he was noted for a singular faculty 
to sweeten, compose, and qualify exasperated spirits, and stop 
or heal all contentions : — whence it was that his town of Mil- 
ford enjoyed peace with truth all his days, notwithstanding 
some dispositions to variance which afterwards broke out." 
Hubbard gives us the additional information, that " he had 



56 

a better faculty than many of his coat to accommodate him- 
self to the difficult circumstances of the country, so as to 
provide comfortably for his numerous family, yet without in- 
decent distractions from his study." All accounts unite in 
describing him as distinguished by fervor and power in the 
pulpit.* 

Mr. Sherman, though regularly educated at the University 
of Cambridge, and distinguished for his proficiency, had 
taken no degree, his conscience refusing a compliance with 
the conditions of graduation. He came to this country in 
1634, and was among the first settlers of Watertown in Mas- 
sachusetts, where he preached his first sermon. Coming 
with the company who founded this new colony, he united 
with the Church in Milford, and at the organization of that 
Church was chosen teacher. This call he declined ; and 
after a few years residence in the New Haven colony, 
preaching occasionally — and sometimes serving the public as 
a member of the General Court for the jurisdiction, he returned 
to Watertown, and became pastor of the Church there. He 
was, for his day, a great master of mathematical and astro- 
nomical science, which he occasionally employed in making 
the calculations for a Christian Almanack. As a preacher, he 
was much admired for "a natural and not affected loftiness of 
style, which with an easy fluency bespangled his discourses 
with such glittering figures of oratory, as caused his ablest 
hearers to call him a second Isaiah, — the honey dropping and 
golden mouthed preacher." As the chief officer of a Church, 
he was distinguished by his "wisdom and kindness." He 
died in 1685, in the seventy second year of his age, having 
been, in two marriages, the father of twenty six children.f 
For his second wife he married a young lady of noble extrac- 
tion, — granddaughter of the earl of Rivers, — who, being a 
ward of Governor Hopkins, lived here before her marriage in 



* Hubbard, 328. Magnalia, III, 93. Tnimbiill,!, 294. Farmer, Genealo- 
gical Register. 

i Six of these cliildren were by the first marriage, twenty by the second. 



57 

the family of Governor Eaton. This distinguished man is 
the more naturally remembered in this connection, inasmuch 
as within less than a century after his death, a citizen of New 
Haven, once like him an almanack maker, and probably of 
the same lineage with him, though not directly descended 
from him, affixed the name of Sherman to the memorable 
instrmnent which forever absolved the United States of Am- 
erica, from their allegiance to the British crown.* 

The Rev. Thomas James, before coming to this country, 
had labored as a minister with approbation and success, in 
Lincolnshire. He came over in the year 1632, and immedi- 
ately became pastor of the Church in Charlestown, which 
Church was at that time first separated from the Church in 
Boston. Having lived there three years and a half, he re- 
signed his pastoral charge on account of difficulties between 
himself and a part of his people, originating, as Gov. Win- 
throp informs us, in his melancholy temper. In the expecta- 
tion, probably, of finding employment as pastor or teacher in 
some of the Churches to be formed in the new colony, he 
came to this place with the fii'st settlers, and resided here as 
a planter for several years. 

In 1643, a gentleman of Virginia came to Boston with let- 
ters, addressed to the ministers of New England, from many 
well disposed people in the upper and newer parts of Virginia, 
" bewailing their sad condition for want of the means of sal- 
vation, and earnestly entreating a supply of faithful ministers, 
whom, upon experience of their gifts and godliness, they 
might call to office." These letters having been publicly 
read at Boston on a lecture day, the elders of the Churches in 
that neighborhood met, and having devoted a day to consul- 
tation and prayer in reference to so serious a proposal, agreed 
upon three settled ministers who they thought might best be 
spared, each of them having a teaching colleague. There- 
suit was, that two ministers, Mr. Knolles of Watertown and 
Mr. Tompson of Braintree, were by their Churches dismissed 

* Mather, Magn. Ill, 162. Church Records. 
8 



58 

to that work, and went forth upon the mission under the 
patronage of the General Court.* To this mission, — the first 
American home missionary undertalcing, — the Rev. Thomas 
James of New Haven was added. The mission was not un- - 
successful; "they found very loving and liberal entertain- 
ment, and were bestowed in several places, not by the gov- 
ernor, but by some well disposed people who desired their 
company." Their ministry there was greatly blessed, and 
greatly sought by the people ; and though the government 
of that colony interfered to prevent their preaching, " because 
they would not conform to the order of England," " the peo- 
ple resorted to them, in private houses, to hear them as be- 
fore."! Their preaching, even in this more private manner, 
was not tolerated. An order was made, that those ministers 
who would not conform to the ceremonies of the Church of 
England sliould, by such a day, depart from the country.^ 
Thus their mission being brought to an end, they came back 
to New England. 

Afterwards, during the period of the suppression of monar- 
chy and prelacy in his native country, Mr. James returned to 
England, leaving here a son of the same name, who was for 
many years a member of this Church, and was afterwards 
the first minister of Easthampton, on Long Island. The 
father obtained a settlement in the parish Church of Needham, 
in the county of Suifolk, in England, from which he was 
ejected by the act of uniformity, in 1662. He had a pretty 
numerous Church after his ejection ; and he left behind him, 
there, the reputation of an eminently holy man. It may be 
added, as an illustration of the indignities to which the ejected 
ministers of 1662 were subjected, that " though he was much 
beloved and esteemed, yet, when he died, the clergyman 
who came in his place would not allow him to be buried in 
any other part of the churchyard, but that unconsecrated 
corner left for rogues, whores, and excommunicates, — though 

* Wintlirop, II, 78. t Winthrop, II, 06. t Mather, Magn. Ill, 216. 



59 

the clergyman owed his benefice to the noble uprightness of 
Mr. James's heart."* 

The Rev. Samuel Eaton, whom I have mentioned on a 
former occasion, resided in this place till the year 1640, when 
he returned to England with the design of gathering there a 
company of emigrants who should settle what was afterwards 
called Branford, that tract having been granted him " for such 
friends as he should bring over from Old England." Being 
detained awhile at Boston, his occasional services in that 
place excited so much interest, that earnest proposals were 
made to him for a permanent settlement there, — which Jae 
rejected. Arriving in England at a time when the Estab- 
lished Church seemed to be about to undergo a general and 
thorough reformation, and when men of the Puritan party, 
no longer driven into banishment by persecution, had the 
strongest hopes of the political and religious renovation of 
their own coimtry, he found more encouragement to remain 
there than to come back into this wilderness. He became 
teacher of a Congregational Church gathered at Duckenfield, 
in Cheshire, his native county, whence he removed, proba- 
bly with some part of his congregation, to the neighboring 
borough of Stockport. In this place, he had difficulty with 
his people, some of whom, it is said, " ran things to a great 
height, and grew wiser than their minister." He also was 
one of the two thousand ministers who, in 1662, were silenced 
in one day, by the act of uniformity — not merely turned out 
of their livings, but silenced, because they could not submit 
to all that was required by the rubrics and canons of the na- 
tional Church. After his ejection, many of his old hearers 

* Calamy. — Prince's Annals, 71, 72. The learned editor of Winthrop. in 
his note on Thomas James, (I, 94,) is a little too severe upon Mather. That 
quaint and conceited historian does not " blunder in giving two of the name" 
of .James ; nor had he been careful enough to ascertain " the name of baptism 
of both" would he have "inferred the identity of the person." Mather ig 
the most vexatious of all writers; for it is evident on almost every page, that 
he suppresses much information pertinent to his subject, for the sake of lug- 
ging in his "ass's load" of pedantic lumber; but it is easier to suspect hini, 
than to convict him, of a positive inaccuracy in such matters, 



CO 

who had dishked him much while he was their minister, be- 
ing now brought to commune with him in difficuUies and 
sufferings, " were wrought into abetter temper." He suf- 
fered many things not only from the persecution which raged 
against the silenced ministers, being " several times brought 
into trouble and imprisoned," but from many other sources, — 
till, on the 9th of June, 1665, he died at Denton in Lancashire, 
and was buried in the chapel there. He is described as hav- 
ing been " a very holy man, of great learning and judgment, 
and an incomparable preacher." His funeral sermon was 
pleached, according to his own appointment, from the words 
of Job, (xix, 25-27,) "I know that my Redeemer liveth," 
&c. The preacher on that occasion dwelt much on the 
afflictions of the deceased. The departed good man was 
spoken of as having been " much afflicted in his estate in the 
times of the former bishops," and as having been more re- 
cently " afflicted in his body, liberty, friends, good name, and 
oft times and many ways troubled and grieved in his spirit." 
His afflictions had been " many and great, and some of long 
continuance." He had been wronged in his good name, 
"not by enemies, but friends." " He had suffered for a sea- 
son the loss of speech, being thus unfitted for public service." 
" Some of those to whom he had preached, and with whom 
he had walked, had greatly distressed his heart with their 
errors in doctrine, and their scandals and divisions ; some 
had returned him evil for good, and hatred for good will, and 
had filled him with reproaches." He had " been dying many 
years," and at last departed in an evil time, leaving his friends 
and the Church of God in great and general affliction. Yet 
he died not till God, having humbled him and proved him, 
had "cleared his innocency, and restored him to some meas- 
ure of usefulness." "By the goodness of God, he died, not- 
withstanding all his enemies, in his own house and bed, and 
came to his grave in peace, according to his heart's desire."* 



* The funeral sermon, preached for the Rev. Samuel Eaton, is found in the 
works of Oliver Hey wood, V, 509. 



61 

He was the author of several works piibHshed in vindica- 
tion of the divinity and atonement of Christ, against some 
Socinian adversary. He was also author, in partnership with 
his colleague in the ministry, at Duckenfield, of two works 
written to defend the Congregational church order against 
the claims of Presbyterianism.* It is testified by a bitter 
enemy,! that he was "held in wonderful esteem" by the 
Puritans in that part of the kingdom, and that he was "a 
most pestilent leading person" among them. As an instance 
of the consideration in which he was held, it is stated that he 
was, in his own county, an assistant to the commissioners 
appointed by Parliament for the ejection of scandalous, igno- 
rant and insufficient ministers and schoolmasters ; and this it 



* Tlie published works of Samuel Eaton, as enumerated by Wood, arc the 
following : 

" Jl Defense of Sundry Positions and Scriptures, alledgcd to justify the Con- 
gregational Way. London, 1645, quarto. It contains about 130 pages. 

" Defense of Sundry Positions and Scriptures, for the Congregational Way 
justified: The second part. London, 1646. It contains about 46 pages." 
[In this and the preceding work, he was assisted by his colleague at Ducken- 
field, Timothy Taylor. A copy of the second is in tlie library of Harvard 
University.] 

" The Mystery of God incarnate : or, the Word made Flesh, cleared np, Szc. 
London, 1650 ; octavo. Written against John Knowles, a Socinian, who had 
answered our author Eaton's Paper concerning the Godhead of Christ. 

" Vindication, or further Confirmation of some other Scriptures, produced 
to prove the Divinity of Jesus Christ, distorted and miserably icrested and 
aini.sed by Mr. John Knoides, &c. London, 1651 ; octavo. 

" The Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction, and of the Reconciliation of God's 
part to the Creature. Printed with the Vindication. 

" Discourse Concerning the Springing and Spreading of Error, and of the 
Means of Cure, and of Preservation against it. Printed also with the Vindi- 
cation. 

" Treatise of the Oath of Allegiance and Covenant, shoicing that they obli<re 
not." [The date of this publication is not given } but a reply to it was pub- 
lished in 16-50.] 

" The Quakers Confuted, &c. Animadverted upon by that sometimes no- 
ted and leading Quaker, called George Fox, in his book entitled. The Great 
Mystery of the Great Whore unfolded: And Anti- Christ's Kingdom revealed 
unto destruction, &c. London, 1659." 

t Wood, Athenae Oxon. 



62 

was, doubtless, that made him " pestilent," in the estimation 
of the "scandalous and insufficient." 

The Rev. William Hooke, was born of a respectable fam- 
ily in the county of Hampshire. He was sent to Trinity 
College, in Oxford, in 1616, where he proceeded to the de- 
gree of master in arts in 1623, " at which time," says the 
malignant Wood, "he was esteemed a close student and a 
religious person." Having received orders in the Church of 
England, he was made vicar of Axmouth, in Devonshire, 
where he continued several years. The character of his 
sermons, it is said, as well as his non-conformity, made him 
obnoxious to the powers which then were in his native coun- 
try. Like many others, he was so hotly persecuted that he 
had no choice but to flee. Accordingly he came to New 
England, where, adds the historian before named, he "con- 
tinued his practices without control for some time." 

Soon after the settlement of Taunton, in 1637, we find 
Mr. Hooke the pastor of the Church in that place. In wbat 
year he removed from Taunton to New Haven is not ascer- 
tained, nor indeed can we fix precisely the date of his ordi- 
nation as teacher of this Church. Mather however informs us, 
that "on the day of his ordination, he humbly chose for his 
text those words in Judges vii, 10 : 'Go thou with Phurah 
thy servant,' — and as humbly raised his doctrine, that in 
great services a little help is better than none, which he gave 
as the reason of his own being joined with so considerable a 
Gideon as Mr. Davenport."* 

While he resided here, one of his correspondents in Eng- 
land was his wife's near kinsman, Oliver Cromwell,f and 
from that circumstance, as well as from the family alli- 
ance, it may be inferred, that before he came to this country 
he was on terms of intimacy with that extraordinary man. 



*Magn. 111,214. 

f Hutchinson, III, 234; — where "Hooker" is obviously an error of the 
transcriber, or of tlic printer, for " Hooke." — Savage's Winthrop, I, 252. 



63 

And when at last his friend Cromwell had mounted to all 
but absolute power over the whole British empire ; when his 
wife's brother, Edward Whalley, was one of the eight mili- 
tary chiefs, who ruled the- eight districts into which the Pro- 
tector had divided the kingdom of England ; when the fear 
of a Presbyterian hierarchy over the churches of England had 
been taken away, and Congregational principles seemed likely 
to triumph, — it is not strange that he felt himself drawn to- 
ward his native country. The New Haven colony was at 
that time greatly depressed, and the prospect of its growth 
was gloomy. Why should he remain here in the woods, at 
this outpost of civilization, preaching to a feeble, disheart- 
ened company of exiles, in a little meeting-house of fifty feet 
square, — with only slender advantages for the education of 
his numerous family, and with little prospect of accomplish- 
ing any great result, — when Old England oilered to talents 
like his, and to a man of his principles and connections, so 
wide a field of action ? And besides, how much might he 
do for New England, and especially for his dear friends and 
flock in ^ew Haven, if he were at the seat of empire, and 
at the ear of him who swayed the empire ? Accordingly we 
find that in 1654, " Mr. Hooke's wife was gone for England, 
and he knew not how God would dispose of her ;" and in 
1656, we find Mr. Hooke himself removing to England.* 
We find him, not long after his arrival there, writing to Gov. 
Winthrop, " As touching myself, I am not yet settled, the 
Protector having engaged me to him not long after my land- 
ing, who hitherto hath well provided for me. His desire is, 
that a Church may be gathered in his family, to which pur- 
pose I have had speech with him several times ; but though 
the thing be most desirable, I foresee great difficulties in sun- 
dry respects. I think to proceed as far as I may by any rule 
of God, and am altogether unwilling that this motion should 
fall in his heart. But my own weakness is discouragement 
enough, were there nothing else."f Cromwell's desire to 

* Town Records. t III, Mass. Hist. Coll. I, 181. 



64 

have a Congregational Church in his own household, at the 
royal palace of Whitehall, was at least so far carried into ef- 
fect, that Mr. Hooke became the Protector's domestic chap- 
lain, in which office he was associated with no less a man 
than John Howe.* He also had conferred upon him the 
mastership of " the hospital called the Savoy, in the city of 
Westminster," — a place which in other times had been, and 
afterwards became again, the bishop of London's city resi- 
dence, — a place of some note in ecclesiastical history, as 
having received that synod of Congregational elders and del- 
egates which framed the " Savoy Confession ;" and as hav- 
ing been also, after the restoration, the scene of several of 
those conferences and debates between some of the dignita- 
ries of the establishment and some leading non-conformists, 
by which the court imposed upon the Puritans with hypo- 
critical professions of candor, till it grew strong enough to 
throw off the disguise and show its hatred. 

In these circumstances, the late teacher of the Church in 
New Haven might very reasonably feel that he had found a 
much more important field of usefulness, than that which 
he had left behind. Here, indeed, his Sabbath auditory had 
included the great men of the jurisdiction, the honorable 
governor, the worshipful deputy governor, the magistrates, 
the deputies ; but there, he preached to His Highness the 
Lord Protector of the three nations, and to one and another of 
the men whose counsels and agency Cromwell employed in 
his most politic and energetic administration. Here, he had 
preached with a little array of armed men, commanded by 
the valiant Captain Malbon, guarding the humble sanctuary 
against the savages ; there, he had before him those veteran 
chiefs whose energy had swept away the king " and all his 



* 111 the order of procession at the funeral of the Protector, the " chap- 
lains at Whitehall, Mr. White, Mr. Sterry, Mr. Hooke, Mr. Howe, Mr. 
Lockyer, Mr. [Hugh] Peters," had a place assigned them. A few files after 
them, was the place of the five " Secretaries of the French and Latin tongues, 
one of whom was " Mr. John Milton." — Burton's Cromwellian Diary, 11, 
524. 



65 

peerage," and whose names were words of terror. Here, he 
felt that he was but " a httle help" to " so considerable a 
Gideon as Mr. Davenport ;" there, he was himself, both by 
station and by his popular talents, one of the most " con- 
siderable" of the ministers in the metropolis of Protestant 
Christendom. But how imperfectly can we, in our short- 
sightedness, judge of the comparative importance of different 
stations and spheres of usefulness. In less than two years 
after Mr. Hooke's arrival in England, his great friend, the 
Protector, died ; and immediately the pillars of that unce- 
mented fabric of empire tottered. Within two years more, 
— ^years of anxious excitement, — Richard Cromwell had re- 
signed the iron scepter which no hand but his father's could 
wield ; and treachery and dissimulation, taking advantage of 
dissensions among the true-hearted, had restored the mon- 
archy, in the person of the ever infamous King Charles II. 
Then came that age of England's greatest degeneracy, when 
her royal palaces rang with the mirth of pimps and courte- 
zans, while the graves of heroes, sages and saints, whose 
memory she ought to have treasured, were dishonored and 
violated by authority. Then came again the era of Sabbath 
sports, and " healths nine fathoms deep," and fox-hunting 
clergymen, while godliness was counted treason, and the 
Baxters and Flavels, the Owens and the Howes, were marks 
of obloquy and vengeance. Then, to be teacher of a hum- 
ble Church in New England, was a better place for useful- 
ness and happiness, than to be the non-conforming master of 
the Savoy, ejected and silenced. Then the late chaplain to 
Oliver, whose name, even after his bones had been dug up, 
and hanged, and buried again under the gallows, made the 
cavaliers turn pale with hate and terror, — the brother of the 
outlawed and hunted regicide, Whailey, — could find in Eng- 
land little peace, and little opportunity of public usefulness. 
He not only suffered ejection from his place, and silencing, 
but other forms of persecution, being "sometimes brought 
into trouble" for worshiping his God according to his own 
convictions. 

9 



66 

Mr. Hooke was the author of several printed works,* only 
one of which is known to be in existence in this country. 
It is a sermon, preached at Taunton in 1640, on a day of 
public humiliation appointed by the Churches in behalf of 
their native country, over which the clouds were then hang- 
ing which soon after broke in the horrors of a civil war. 
The title of the sermon is " New England's Tears for Old 
England's Fears ;" and the sermon itself is, in matter and 
style, quite unlike the ordinary preaching of that day. For 
matter, while a strain of evangelical sentiment runs through 
it, it is chiefly occupied with a lively description of the hor- 
rors of war, and especially of civil war, and with a statement 
of the reasons which ought to constrain the men of New 
England to sympathize with all the distresses of their mother 
country. For the style, while it has some touches of antique 
phraseology, it is far more ornamented, polished and rhetori- 
cal, than the style of any other New England preacher of 
that day. 

That you may have a specimen of the matter and style of 
his preaching, I introduce here some extracts from the ser- 
mon, as it lies before me.f 

* The works of Mr. Hooke, as set down by Wood, are — 

" JVeic E7igland's Tears for Old England's Fears, — Fast-Sermon. Printed 
1640, 41, in qu. 

Several Sermons, as (1) Sermon on Job 2, 12. — Printed 1641, in qu. (2) 
Sermon in Keic England in behalf of Old, England, &c., printed 1645, in qu. 
and others. 

" The Privileges of the Saints on Earth beyond those in Heaven, &c. Lond. 
1673, in Oct. 

" j3 Discourse of the Gospel-Day — printed with the former book. 

" He had a hand also in a Catechism published under the name of Joh. 
Davenport, and hath written other things which I have not yet seen." 

To this catalogue may be added from Calamy, The Slaughter of the Wit- 
nesses, — and Jl Sermon in the Supplement to the Morning Exercises. 

t The full title of the pamphlet is, " New England's Teares for Old Eng- 
land's Feares. Preached in a Sermon on July 23, 1640, being a day of Pub- 
lique Humiliation, appointed by the Churches in behalf of onr native Coun- 
trey in time of feared dangers. By William Hooke, IMinister of God's 
Word ; sometimes of Axmouth in Devonshire, now of Taimton in New 
England. Sent over to a worthy member of the honorable House of Com- 
mons, who dcBires it may be for publike good. London, Printed by E. G. for 



67 

The text is Job ii, 13. " So they sat down with him 
upon the ground, seven days and seven nights, and none 
spake a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very 
great." After a brief opening of the text, the proposition is 
announced, " that it is the part of true friends and brethren 
to sympathize and fellow-feel with their brethren and friends 
when the hand of God is upon them. The proposition, or 
doctrine, having been " proved," according to the fashion of 
the day, by an induction of instances from the Scriptures, 
and illustrated by "reasons" from the nature of the case, we 
come to the " use" or application, which occupies the greater 
part of the discourse. And here the preacher says, " Before 
I come to the main use which I aim at, I will speak a few 
words, by way of information, to show how far they are 
from being friends or brethren, who are ready to rejoice at 
the afflictions and miseries of others. A right Edomitish 
quality ; for Edom rejoiced over the children of Judah in 
the day of their destruction." '' And it is commonly ob- 
served, that men and women who have turned witches, and 
been in league with the devil thereby to do mischief, are 
never given over so to do, till they begin to have an evil eye 
which grieveth at the prosperity and rejoiceth at the misery 
of others. Hence witchcraft is described by an evil eye."* 
" Nay it is the property of the Devil to be thus affected. 
Man's prosperity is his pain, and man's adv^ersity his rejoic- 
ing, as we see in Job ; neither is there scarce any thing that 
doth more import the seed of the Serpent in a man than this 



John Rotlnvell and Henry Overton, and are to be sould at the Sunne in Paul's 
Church-yard, and in Popes-head Alley. 1641." The copy whicli I have 
had the privilege of consulting, belongs to the Library of Harvard Univer^ 
sity, and is the only copy known to exist in this country. 

* JVescio quis teneros onilus mihi fascinat agnos. 

To this classical citation with which the author of the Sermon decorates 
his margin, I may add that the trials of- Mrs. Elizabeth Godman," as detailed 
in the town and colony records, contain evidence equally conclusive witl> 
the reasoning above, to show that Mr. Hooke was not so far superior to his 
age as not to believe in actual witchcraft. Cudworth would never have sus- 
pected him, on that ground. " of having some hankering towards atheism." 



68 

same LtixuiQEKaaiu, rejoicing in the evil and misery of an- 
other." — "And though I am not able to charge any of you 
with this cursed affection, yet I do wish you to look into 
your own hearts ; for this T am sure, here are strong tempta- 
tions sometimes leading towards it in this land, which, when 
they meet with a heart void of grace, must needs stir up the 
disposition in it." 

The preacher then proceeds to the " use which he princi- 
pally intends," which is to exhort his hearers to an affection- 
ate sympathy with their countrymen in their native land. 
He reminds them, that there is no occasion for sorrow on 
their own account. He beseeches them, " Let us lay aside 
the thoughts of all our comforts this day, and let us fasten 
our eyes upon the calamities of our brethren in Old England, 
calamities at least imminent, calamities drojiping, swords 
that have hung a long time over their heads by a twine 
thread, judgments long since threatened as foreseen by many 
of God's messengers in their causes, though not foretold by 
a spirit prophetically guided, heavy judgments in all proba- 
bility, when they fall, if they are not fallen already." Then 
follows a vivid portraiture of war, and especially of the ag- 
gravated atrocities of civil war, which was the heavy judg- 
ment then coming down upon England. After which he 
proceeds in his exhortation. 

" That which we are now called to is brotherly compassion, 
and to do the part of Job's friends in my text, to sit aston- 
ished, as at the crying sins, so at the feared sorrows of our 
countrymen ; for in all probability their grief is very great. 
To this end you may think awhile of these particulars. 

" First, of our civil relations to that land, and the inhabi- 
tants therein. There is no land that claims our name but 
England ; we are distinguished from all the nations of the 
world by the name of English." " Did we not there draw 
in our first breath ? Did not the sun first shine there uj)ou 
our heads ? Did not that land first bear us, even that pleas- 
ant island, but for sin I would say, that garden of the T^ord, 
that paradise. 



09 

"Withal, let us think upon oiu' natural relations to many 
in that land. Some of you, I know, have fathers and moth- 
ers there, some of you have brethren and sisters, others of you 
have brethren and kinsfolk. All these, sitting in grief and 
sorrow, challenge our sympathies, and it is a fearful sin to be 
void of natural affection. [Rom. i, 31.]" 

" But what is more, let us remember how, for many of us, 
we stand in a sjjiritnal relation to many, yea, very many in 
that land. The same thread of grace is spun through the 
hearts of all the godly under heaven. Such a one there is 
thy spiritual father ; he begot thee in Christ Jesus through 
the Gospel ; and there thou hast spiritual brethren and sis- 
ters and mothers. [Matth. xii, 50. j O, there is many a sweet, 
loving, humble, heavenly soul in that land, in whose bosom 
Christ breathes by his blessed Spirit every day, and such as 
I hope we shall ever love at the remotest distance, were it 
from one end of the earth to the other. Why, they are bone 
of our bone, and tiesh of our flesh in the church, nearer by 
far than friends and kindred; Oh, let their sorrows be our 
sorrows, and their miseries ours. 

" Besides these relations, civil, natural, and spiritual, let 
us think upon the special ties and engagements that many 
there have upon us. Among your friends there, whether 
natural or spiritual, there are no doubt some whom you prize 
above the rest." — " Alas ! these now, perhaps, are weeping in 
their secret places ; these are now sitting with Job among the 
ashes. If you could but see the expressions of their sorrows, 
and hear their present speeches and complaints ; and how 
they, their wives and little ones, do sit and lament together, — 
it may be, some of them in expectation of daily death, and 
how they fast and pray and afflict their souls, or how, per- 
adventure, they wish themselves at this very instant with 
us; O you would weep and cry, and melt away into tears 
of sorrow. 

" To this, add the consideration of the many mercies, 
heaps of rich and precious mercies, tvA^enty, yea, thirty and 
forty years' mercies, and to some more, which we have 
there received ; especially soul-mercies. There the light of 



70 

the glorious Gospel of Christ Jesus first shined forth unto 
thee ; there thou first heardst his pleasant voice ; there did 
his good Spirit first breathe upon thine heart ; there didst 
thou first believe and repent and amend thy lewd ways. 
And never was there a land, I think, since Christ and his 
Apostles left the world, so richly blest in converts, or that ever 
brought forth, such and so many worthies into the world. 
Yet there now (alas! where sooner, when sin aboundeth?) 
doth judgment begin to reign, as we may greatly fear. 

'' Or is it not meet that we should bear a part with them 
in their sorrows, who have borne a part with them in their 
sins ? Have we conferred so many sins as we have done, 
to sf^eed on their confusion, and shall we bestow no sorrow 
on them ? Shall we not help to quench the fire with our 
tears, that we have kindled with our sins ?" 

" Again ; let us suppose that things were even now turned 
end for end, and that we were this day in distress, and those 
our brethren in peace ; I am confident that they would con- 
dole with us, yea, and pour out many a prayer for us : for 
they did as much, I know, when this land lay sometime un- 
der dearth, another time when the Indians rebelled, a third 
when the monstrous opinions prevailed. And how have 
they always listened after our welfare, ebbing and flowing 
in their affections with us? How do they (I mean all this 
while, multitudes of well affected persons there) talk of New 
England with delight ! How much nearer heaven, do some 
of their charities account this land than any other place they 
hear of in the world ! Such is their good opinion of us." — 
" And when sometimes a New England man returns thither, 
how is he looked upon, looked after, received, entertained, 
the ground he walks upon beloved for his sake, and the house 
held the better where he is ! how are his words listened to, 
laid up, and related frequently when he is gone ! neither is 
any love or kindness held too much for such a man. 

" Neither let this be forgotten, that of all the Christian 
people this day in the world, we in this land enjoy the great- 
est measure of peace and tranquillity. We have beaten our 
swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks, 



71 

when others have beaten their pruning hooks into spears and 
their ploughshares into swords. And now, as Moses said to 
the Reubenites and the Gadites, ' Shall your brethren go to 
war, and shall ye sit still ?' — so, shall our brethren go to war, 
and we sit still and not so much as grieve with them ? Shall 
they be wounded with the sword and spear, and not we be 
pierced so much as with brotherly sorrow ?" 

" What shall I say ? If there should be any one heart 
here, digged out of a Marpesian rock, let such an one remem- 
ber, lastly, that in the peace of that land, we shall have peace, 
and therefore in the misery of that land we shall never be 
happy. You know that God hath hitherto made that land 
a blessing to this. If Christ hath a vine here, that land hath 
as yet been the elm that hath sustamed it. Thence hath 
the Lord thus stocked this American part with such wor- 
thies ; there were they bred and nursed ; thence, .hitherto, 
have been our yearly supplies of men, and of many a useful 
commodity. If then they suffer, we may easily Smart ; if 
they sink, we are not likely to rise. And this at least may 
be a persuasive to a sordid mind, that wiU not be wrought 
upon by more ingenuous arguments. 

" The merciful God stir up all our affections, and give us 
that godly sympathy, which that land deserveth at our hands, 
and teach us to express it upon all occasions of ill tidings 
coming to our ears from thence. Yea, let us sit, at this time, 
like old Eli upon the wayside, watching as he did, for the 
ark of the Lord, with a trembling hand and heart. And let 
us be every day confessing of our Old England's sins, of its 
high pride, idolatry, superstition, blasphemies, blood, cruel- 
ties, atheisms. And let us never go to our secrets, without 
our censers in our hands for Old England, dear England still 
in divers respects, left indeed by us in our persons, but never 
yet forsaken in our affections. The good God of heaven 
have mercy upon it, and upon all his dear people and ser- 
vants in it, for Christ's sake. Amen.'^ 

Such is a specimen of our first teacher's style of preaching. 
I offer no comments on it. Only let me ask whether those 
who are most accustomed to depreciate the intellectual and 



72 

moral character of our ancestors, must not own that such a 
specimen refutes their prejudices ? 

Several other sermons of Mr. Hooke's appear to have been 
published, some of them at least while he was here in New 
England. Another work of his, printed in his old age, was 
entitled " The privileges of the saints on earth, beyond those 
in heaven" — a title which, though the book should be lost, 
deserves to be kept in remembrance. What sort of a man 
must he have been, who in his old age, disappointed, afflicted, 
persecuted, could write a book to show the privileges of the 
saints on earth beyond those in heaven — the privilege of 
laboring for the Redeemer, and the privilege of bearing the 
cross, and enduring reproach and sorrow for him. Methinks 
prejudice itself will own, that such a man must have had 
something of the same spirit with that apostle who said, "I 
am in a strait betwixt two, for to me to live is Christ, but to 
die is gain." 

It may be stated here, that Mr. Hooke's home lot in this 
town, on which he lived, was at the southwest corner of Col- 
lege and Chapel streets, and was of the same extent with the 
other original town lots. That lot, with the house and ac- 
commodations upon it, he gave to this Church, on the express 
condition that it should never be alienated, " that it might be 
a standing maintenance either towards a teaching officer, 
schoolmaster, or the benefit of the poor in fellowship." The 
lot, however, was alienated in 1721, by a perpetual lease, to 
the trustees of what is now Yale College, for the sum of forty 
three pounds. This may have been legally right, but by the 
lease, the intention of the donor was as really defeated as it 
could have been by a direct sale. In a letter to the Church, 
confirming his gift and defining the terms of the donation, 
written after fifteen years' absence from them, he says : 
" Brethren, I daily have you in remembrance before the 
Lord, as retaining my old brotherly aflection towards you, 
desiring the return of your prayers and brotherly love for 
him in whose heart you have a great interest. The Father 
of mercy be with you all, dwell in the midst of you, fill you 
with all joy and peace in believing, and bring you to his 



73 

everlasting kingdom in glory through Jesus Christ, in whom 
I rest." 

This good man died on the 21st of March, 1678, aged 
seventy seven, and was buried in the cemetery of Bunhill 
fields, in London, wliich is a sort of Westminster Abbey of 
the Puritans and Dissenters. 

From the facts which have been now exhibited, it may be 
seen what sort of men the fathers of New England had for 
ministers, and what zeal the fathers manifested, to have the 
work of the sanctuary well attended to. It was truly said 
by one of them, in his quaint way, that it was " as unnatural 
for a right New England man to live without an able min- 
istry, as for a smith to work his iron without fire." 

Their ministers were all educated men ; educated at the 
universities of England in all the learning and science of that 
age, and especially in every thing pertaining to the science 
of theology. None of them counted himself properly ac- 
quainted with the Scriptures, till he could read them famil- 
iarly in their original languages. It was no uncommon thing 
for the ministers of that age, in their daily family devotions, 
to read not only the New Testament from the Greek, but 
the Old Testament from its native Hebrew. The fathers of 
New England did not think so meanly of themselves as to 
calculate on being instructed by an uninstructed ministry. 

Their ministers were such men as they considered to be 
called of God, men of approved faith, purity and piety, men 
whom they could trust and honor. The more I see of the 
piety of the fathers, and especially of the piety of their minis- 
ters — the more I analize their characters, and separating their 
piety from the quaintness in which it was sometimes attired, 
and from that peculiar zeal about forms and institutions which 
resulted from their circumstances, see how they realized con- 
tinually the grand and simple objects of Christian faith, and 
thus continually walked with God — the more am I con- 
strained to honor them, and the more do I find myself in- 
structed, reproved, stimulated by their example. The fathers 

10 



74 

of these churches dreaded above all outward curses the curse 
of a worldly, unholy ministry. 

Their ministers were expected to do the work of the sanc- 
tuary well. They did not suppose that a little unstudied 
declamation, or a little prosy traditional metaphysics, uttered 
from one Lord's day to another, " thought echoing to thought, 
and sermon to sermon," in perpetual monotony, was enough 
to feed the flock of God. They did not imagine that men 
whose spirits were continually jaded and exhausted by excess 
of labor, were the most likely to build up and adorn God's liv- 
ing temple. They intended that their ministers should not 
only be well qualified before entering the ministry, but should 
also, while in the ministry, have no excuse in the burthen- 
someness of their duties for not maintaining by various and 
continued study, that elastic vigor of mind which is always 
essential to successful eftbrt. Their plan was to place, in 
every congregation, two preachers, well qualified, who, divi- 
ding between them the work of the ministry, should hold up 
each other's hands, and stimulate each other to constant per- 
sonal and mutual improvement. To the enlarged views 
with which they acted, we of this generation are greatly in- 
debted. The pulpit has not yet lost in New England, that 
eminence of intellectual and moral power which it gained 
when New England was planted. The original plan of an 
associate ministry in every church, has indeed been given up ; 
but the benefits of that plan are still secured in a great meas- 
ure, by the multiplication and communion of churches. 
Ministers still assist each other's labors, bear each other's 
burthens, guide each other's studies, and aid and stimulate 
each other's progress. If this is a benefit ; if it has always 
been an honor and a blessing to the people of Connecticut, 
that from the beginning they have ever had " a scholar to 
their minister in every town or village ;"* for this we are 
indebted to our ancestors. Let us give to posterity no occa- 
sion to reproach us with having impaired, in this respect, 
their just inheritance. 



* Narrative of llic King's Commissioners, in 1GG6, Hutrli. Ill, 413. 



DISCOURSE V. 

JOHN DAVENPORT IN ENGLAND, IN HOLLAND, AND IN THE 
NEW ENGLAND SYNOD OF 1637. 

John v, 35. — He was a burning and a shining light. 

I HAVE reserved to this occasion the work of giving some 
account of the life and character of the Rev. John Davenport, 
the first pastor of this Church, and one of the two chief men 
in the company that founded the colony of New Haven. 

He was born in the ancient city of Coventry, in the year 
1597. Of his father we know only that he was at one time 
mayor of the city in which he resided, and that he was 
descended from a highly respectable family of that name in 
the county of Chester. Of his mother it is recorded that she 
was a pious woman, and that "■ having lived just long enough 
to devote him. as Hannah did her Samuel, to the service of 
the sanctuary, left him under the more immediate care of 
heaven, to fit him for that service." That mother's dying 
prayer received an early answer. Before the son had attained 
to fourteen years of age, " the grace of God had sanctified 
hirn with good principles ;" and he had already entered upon 
that conscientious and devout manner of living by which he 
was ever afterwards distinguished.* 

At the age of fourteen, he was admitted into one of the 
colleges of the university of Oxford,! where he pursued his 
studies not more than five years. A volume of his manu- 
script notes and sketches of sermons, bearing the date of 
1615, J appears to indicate in some places, that sometime in 

* Magnalia, III, 52. 

t Wood says that he was sent in 1613 to Mcrton College, and was trans- 
ferred two years afterwards to Magdalen Hall. Mather, who was more likely 
to know, having Davenport's papers before him, says he was admitted into 
Brazen-nose College, when " he had seen two sevens of years in this evil 
world," which fi,\cs the date in 1611. 

X Preserved in the Library of Yale Colh^ge. 



76 

the course of that year, he was officiating as domestic chap- 
lain at Hilton castle, not far from the city of Durham. At 
the age of nineteen, he entered upon public life as a preacher 
in the great metropolis. He was at first an assistant to an- 
other minister ; but afterwards he was vicar of St. Stephen's 
Church in Coleman street. He was soon distinguished and 
honored, not only for his accomplishments as a minister, but 
by his courageous devotedness to his people in a time of pes- 
tilence, when others either retreated from their posts or de- 
clined the dangerous duty of visiting the sick and afflicted. 

He had left the university without taking the degree of 
Master of Arts ; but in 1625* he returned to Oxford for a 
time, and having gone through the necessary exercises, he 
received that degree and the degree of Bachelor in Divinity 
together. He was by no means one of those whose studies 
are finished when they leave the walls of the university. 
He was not the less a hard student for being a laborious city 
preacher. "His custom was to sit up very late at his lucu- 
brations ;" but though " he found no sensible damage him- 
self" from the practice, '' his counsel was, that other students 
would not follow his example." His sermons were more 
elaborate, and written out more fully, than was generally cus- 
tomary among the preachers of that day ; yet his sermons 
were not his only studies, " but the effects of his industry 
were seen by all men in his approving himself, on all occa- 
sions, an universal scholar."! 

One of the members of his congregation in Coleman 
street, was Theophilus Eaton, with whom, though about 
six years older than himself, he had been intimate in child- 
hood, the father of Eaton being then one of the ministers of 
Coventry. It had been the hope of Eaton's friends to see 
him in the ministry ; but the providence that controls all 
things had other designs concerning him ; and therefore the 
pious ambition of his friends was defeated. Being permitted 
to follow his own preferences, he became a merchant ; and 

* Wood, t Mather. 



77 

in that employment he was eminent and successful. It may 
be presumed that Eaton's friendsiiip for Daveni)ort had some- 
thing to do with bringing the young preacher to London, 
and fixing him there. Tlienceforward the two hved in un- 
interrupted intimacy ; they were rarely separated from each 
other ; their history runs in one channel ; their names are in- 
separably associated. 

What a contrast to this beautiful picture of friendship and 
of a common destiny, do we find in the life of another of 
their Coventry schoolmates. There was only about a year's 
difference in age between John Davenport and his cousin 
Christopher ; and long after Eaton had left Coventry and 
gone to his apprenticeship in London, the two cousins went 
to the university together, and were in the same college 
there.* But how great was the difference and distance be- 
tween them afterwards. The one became a most thorough 
and fearless Puritan, the founder of a Puritan Church and 
colony in the wilderness of the new world. The other, 
with much of the same native genius and temper, after some 
two years' study in Oxford, became a papist, went to the 
continent, and connected himself with the Franciscan order 
of friars, pursued his studies at Doway, and in one of the 
universities of Spain, and at length came back to his native 
country, a Romish missionary, eminently learned and ac- 
complished, under the assumed name of Franciscus a Sancta 
Clara. In this capacity, he became one of the chaplains to 
Q,ueen Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I. He was an 
active, leading spirit in those stormy times, doing great ser- 
vice for the popish cause in England, raising money among the 
English papists for all sorts of purposes ; writing books, gain- 
ing proselytes, and intriguing in all quarters, (the archbishop 
himself not excepted,) to bring about a reconciliation between 
the National Church of England, and the Church of Rome. 
During the interval between the downfall of the monarchy 



' I follow here, the tesUinony of Wood, which on tliis point is not neces- 
sarily contradicted by that of Mather. 



78 

and the return of the Stuarts, he hved in obscurity, but not 
therefore inactively. At the restoration, he appeared again, 
and his faded honors revived and blossomed. King Charles 
II, having married a popish princess of Portugal, Franciscus 
a Sancta Clara became again chaplain to the Q,ueen of Eng- 
land. He died in 1680, at the royal palace of Somerset 
House, and was buried in the Church of the Savoy Hospital, 
where William Hooke, the chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, had 
preached a few years before. 

That Mr. Davenport, v/hen vicar of St. Stephen's in Cole- 
man street, had notwithstanding his youth, no inferior position 
among the men of tlie Puritan party in the Church of England, 
appears from various sources. " The ablest men about Lon- 
don," says Mather, " were his nearest friends." Dr. Preston, 
the master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, a man who 
had declined the bishopric of Gloucester, and of whom it was 
understood, that had he been dishonest enough to be the ally 
or the tool of Buckingham, he might have been chancellor of 
England, — a man who by his eloquence as a preacher, his 
learning and skill in controversy, and his various talents for 
business, was, more than any other of his time, the head of 
the Puritans, — was numbered among the intimate friends of 
the young preacher at St. Stephen's. When Dr. Preston 
died, he left his posthumous works to the care of Mr. Daven- 
port. 

In the year 1627, an association was formed in London, 
with the design of providing for all parts of England an able 
and evangelical ministry, in connection with the established 
Church. Some explanation is necessary to make the plan of 
their proceedings intelligible to those who are not familiar 
with the ecclesiastical institutions of England. By an ancient 
arrangement in that country, the tenth part of all the products 
of the soil is devoted to the Church, — the tithes of each par- 
ish belonging ordinarily to the minister of the parish. Du- 
ring the ages of popery, however, the tithes of many parishes 
became appropriated to diiferent monasteries, — the monastery 
in such cases providing a priest for the parish, who acting in 



79 

their behalf, was called the vicar : while the tithes of the 
parisli, abov^e what was necessary to pay the vicar, went to 
augment the revenues of the monastery. When Henry VIII, 
dissolved the monasteries, and distributed their wealth among 
his friends and conrtiers, these appi'opriated tithes, as they 
were called, became the property of laymen, and were 
thenceforward called " lay impropriations^^ — the layman who 
owed the tithes of the parish, being obliged to pay some 
part of the tithes for the support of the parish clergyman, and 
enjoying, as his private property, all that surplus which form- 
erly went to the monastery. In thousands of the parishes of 
England, the tithes are thus impropriated. The scheme in 
which Davenport and others were concerned, proposed to re- 
cover these revenues, or at least some part of them, for the 
use of the Church. They undertook to raise, by voluntary 
contribution, a fund which should be invested in the pur- 
chase of " lay impropriations," and the revenues of which 
should be employed in supporting lecturers, — or stated preach- 
ers, — in all those parts of the kingdom where there was 
most need of such a ministry. Mr. Davenport was one 
of the twelve trustees to whom the entire management of the 
undertaking was committed. The plan was regarded by the 
public with great favor ; and in a very short time thirteen 
impropriations had been purchased at an expense of five or 
six thousand pounds. But to Laud, then bishop of London, 
such a movement seemed very threatening, inasmuch as 
preaching tended continually to the growth of Puritanism. 
Here was a sort of Home Missionary Society — a develop- 
ment of the principle of voluntary association, which if not 
crushed might grow too strong for control. He therefore 
represented to the king, that these trustees were engaged in 
a cons[)iracy against the Church, and caused them to be pros- 
ecuted in the court of the Exchequer, as an unlawful society. 
The result was a decision of that court, that the proceedings 
were unlawful ; that the impropriations purchased should be 
confiscated ; and that the trustees themselves were liable to 
be fined in the star chamber. But the unpopularity of the 



80 

prosecution was so great, that it was dropped at this point ; 
and, the fund having been confiscated, the trustees escaped 
being punished as criminals by fines which might have strip- 
ped them of their private property.* 

In reference to this passage of his hfe, Mr. Davenport, made 
the following record in his great Bible : 

"Feb. 11, 1632. The business of ihe feoffees, being to be 
heard the third time at the Exchequer, I prayed earnestly 
that God would assist our counsellors in opening the case, 
and be pleased to grant that they might get no advantage 
against us to punish us as evil doers ; promising to observe 
what answer he gave. Which seeing he hath graciously 
done, and delivered me from the thing I feared, 1 record to 
these ends : 

1. To be more industrious in my family. 2. To check 
my unthankfulness. 3. To quicken myself to thankfulness. 
4. To awaken myself to more watchfulness for the time to 
come, in remembrance of his mercy. 

Which I beseech the Lord to grant ; upon whose faithful- 
ness in his covenant, I cast myself to be made faithful in my 
covenant. Joun Davenporte."* 

By this time, or soon after, Mr. Davenport seemed to have 
become a decided non-conformist. It is related of him, on 
the authority of some written testimony of his own — "that 
he was first staggered in his conformity, and afterwards fully 
taken otf, by set conferences and debates which himself and 
sundry other ministers obtained with Mr. John Cotton, then 
driven from Boston [in England] on account of his non-con- 
formity."! Nor did he study one side of the question only. 
He had conferences with Bishop Laud, as well as with the 

*Neal, 11,247. 

t This is copied from Mather. Tlic orthograpliy of the name as here given 
is correct, if we permit every man to determine the spelling of his own name. 
Mr. Davenport, as we call him, always wrote his name John Davenporte. I 
have followed in this work the orthographj' adopted by his posterity, which 
was also adopted in the records both of the Church and of the town and 
colon)^ 

X Preface to Power of Congregational Churches. 



81 

non-confortnist Cotton. The bishop having the advantage of 
him by such arguments as the Star chamber afforded, said, in 
reference to these debates, " I thought I had settled his 
judgment." Accordingly the prelate expressed himself with 
some displeasure, when he found, near the close of the year 
1633, that Davenport had not only openly " declared his 
judgment againt conformity with the Church of England," 
but had resigned his benefice and escaped from the warrant 
that was out against him, by fleeing into Holland.* 

So conscientious was Mr. Davenport, that even when threat- 
ened with immediate danger, he would not retreat from his 
post without the free consent of those to whom he stood in 
the pastoral relation. " Being seasonably and sufficiently 
advertised" of the impending '' vengeance" of the arch- 
bishop, " he convened the principal persons under his pasto- 
ral charge at a general vestry, desiring them on this occasion 
to declare what they would advise ; for, acknowledging the 
right which they had in him as their pastor, he would not, 
by any danger, be driven from any service which they should 
expect or demand at his hands." "Upon a serious delib- 
eration, they discharged his conscientious obligations, by 
agreeing with him that it would be best for him to resign." 
Having resigned, he still found that he could not be safe till 
he had put the sea between himself and the officers that 
were in pursuit of him.f 

In the city of Amsterdam, there had been for many years 
a congregation of English Christians, organized upon Pres- 
byterian principles, under the pastoral care of Mr. John Paget. 
That Church, having heard of Mr. Davenport's arrival in Hol- 
land, immediately sent messengers to meet him, with the 
invitation to be colleague with their aged pastor. Accord- 
ingly he labored for a season in the English Church at Am- 
sterdam, with " great acceptance." But a difference soon 
arose between him and Mr. Paget, in respect to the indiscrim- 
inate baptism of children practiced in that congregation. The 



Wood. % t Magnalia, III, 52. 

11 



82 

practice there had been, as it was and is in the Estabhshed 
Church of England, to baptize the children of all sorts of 
parents, without any evidence or inquiry as to the fitness of 
the parents to enter into such a covenant. This Davenport 
refused to do, Avhich gave great offense to Mr. Paget. The 
matter was in some way brought before the Dutch classis or 
presbytery, to which that English Church appears to have 
been subject ; but though the classis acknowledged Mr. Dav- 
enport's " eminent learning and singular piety," and could not 
refrain from " approving his good zeal and care" respecting 
the fitness of parents offering their children for baptism, he had 
already made up his mind against the power of classical as- 
semblies, as well as against the promiscuous administration of 
ordinances : and the result was, " the matter could not be 
accommodated ; Mr. Davenport could not be allowed, except 
he would promise to baptize the children whose parents and 
sureties were, even upon examination, found never so much 
unchristianized, ignorant or scandalous." Being thus con- 
strained to desist from the public exercise of his ministry, he 
confined himself to a private Sabbath evening lecture at his 
own lodgings ; but that was soon complained of, and his 
lecture was given up. Several works were published on both 
sides during the progress of this controversy, the last of which, 
being Mr. Davenport's " Apologetical Reply," was printed 
at Rotterdam in 1636. Soon after this, having found by 
experience that a strict Presbyterian hierarchy is not much 
better than the yoke of prelacy, he returned to his native 
country, for the purpose of emigrating to America."* 

From the first movement towards the planting of the Mas- 
sachusetts colony, Mr. Davenport, though at that time he had 
no idea of leaving England himself, had much to do with 
the undertaking. That colony, from its beginning, had oc- 
casion to regard him as one of its chief patrons.f " And 



* Magnalia, III, 53. 

1 Ho contributed £50, and his friend and parishioner Eaton paid £100 to- 
wards procuring the charter of Massachusetts in 1628. Hutchinson, III, 395. 
Eaton was one of the original patentees. 



83 

while he was in Holland," says Mather, "he received letters 
of Mr. Cotton, from the country Avhcreto he had been thns 
a father, telling him that the order of the Churches and the 
commonwealth, was now so settled in New England, by 
common consent, that it brought into his mind the new 
heaven and the new earth wherein dwehs righteousness." 
"Accordingly he and his friend Theophilus Eaton, became the 
leaders of a new expedition to New England, which arrived 
at Boston, in the Hector and another vessel, on the 26th of 
June, 1637.* 

Mr. Davenport was heartily welcomed by the ministers 
and Churches who were in New England before him, for 
he arrived at a time when the whole colony of Massachu- 
setts was shaken with a religious controversy. There are 
certain opinions which always come forth, under one form 
or another, in times of great religious excitement, to dishonor 
the truth which they simulate, and to defeat the work of 
God by heating the minds of men to enthusiasm, and thus 
leading them into licentiousness of conduct. These opin- 
ions, essentially the same under many modifications, have 
been known in various ages by various names, as Antinomi- 
anism, Familism, and — in our day — Perfectionism. Persons 
falling into these errors commonly begin by talking mysti- 
cally and extravagantly about grace, the indwelling of the 
Spirit, the identity of believers with the person of Christ, or 
of the Holy Ghost, or of God ; as they proceed they learn to 
despise all ordinances and means of grace, they put contempt 
upon the Bible as a mere dead letter, worth nothing in com- 
parison with their inspiration, they reject and rcvile all civil 
government and order ; and not unfrequently they end in 
denying theoretically all the dilference between right and 
wrong so far as their conduct is concerned, and in rushing to 
the shameless perpetration of the most loathsome wickedness. 
This intellectual and spiritual disease had broken out in Mas- 
sachusetts, and threatened to become epidemic. An artful, 

* Winthrop, I, 297. 



84 

enthusiastic and eloquent woman, forgetting, like some wo- 
men of our day, the modesty of her sex, had set herself up 
for a preacher ; and by the adroitness with which she ad- 
dressed herself to the weaknesses and prejudices of individ- 
uals, and drew to her side the authority of some of the most 
honored names in the colony, she seemed likely not only to 
lead her own blind followers to the wildest extravagances, 
but to spread division through all the Churches. In this 
crisis a man so eminent as Davenport, so much respected by 
all parties, so exempt from any participation in the contro- 
versy, so learned in the Scriptures, so skilled in the great art 
of marking distinctions and detecting fallacies, could not but 
be welcomed by all — to use the words of Mather, " as Moses 
welcomed Jethro, hoping that he would be as eyes to them 
in the wilderness." A synod was soon to be held at which 
the controversies of the day were to be examined, and if pos- 
sible adjusted. On the 17th of August, Mr. Hooker and Mr. 
Stone having already come from Connecticut to attend the 
expected synod, " Mr. Davenport preached at Boston (it be- 
ing the lecture day) out of that in 1 Cor. 'I exhort you, 
brethren, &c.j that there be no divisions among you,' &c. ; 
wherein," says Gov. Winthrop, "as he fully set forth the 
nature and danger of divisions, and the disorders which were 
among us, so he clearly discovered his judgment against the 
new opinions and bitter practices which were sprung up 
here."* 

The synod met at Cambridge (then called Newtown) on 
the thirtieth of August, Mr. Hooker of Hartford, and Mr. 
Buckly of Concord, being the moderators, and "all the teach- 
ing elders in the country and some new come out of Eng- 
land, as Mr. Davenport," having seats in the assembly. 
During the three weeks' session which ensued, Mr. Daven- 
port was active in promoting the ends aimed at in the sermon 
just referred to. " The learning and wisdom of this worthy 
man," says Mather, " in the synod then assembled, did con- 

* Winthrop, I, 236. 



85 

tribute more than a little to dispel the fascinating mists which 
had suddenly disordered our affairs." The session being fin- 
ished, Mr. Davenport, at the request of the synod, preached 
in Boston from Phil, iii, 16, — "Nevertheless, whereto we 
have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us 
mind the same thing," In his sermon, "he laid down the 
occasions of differences among Christians, declared the effect 
and fruit of the synod, and with much wisdom and argument 
persuaded to unity."* 

The wealth, the reputation, and the intellectual and moral 
endowments of the newly arrived company of emigrants, 
made it an object with each of the colonies already planted, 
to secure so valuable an accession. They were invited to 
Plymouth ; offers of the most liberal character were made to 
them by the people of Massachusetts ; but for various reasons 
they determined to attempt a new and independent settle- 
ment. Of these reasons, the most obvious and most cogent 
was, that their chief men were Londoners, accustomed chiefly 
to commercial pursuits, and there was no considerable pros- 
pect at that time of building up another commercial town in 
either of those elder colonies. Another reason was found in 
the expectation that some invasion would soon be made upon 
the liberties of Massachusetts and Plymouth by the sending 
over of a general governor. In some way they expected, by 
establishing a new colony out of the bounds of any existing 
jurisdiction, without any charter, or any recognition of de- 
pendence on the king, to escape or resist the power of the 
expected general governor. Davenport knew that Laud, the 
head of the royal commissioners for the colonics, was his 
personal enemy, and had uttered against him, on hearing of 
his retreat into America, the significant threat, My arm shall 
reach him thcre,'\ and that therefore he, of all men, had no 
reason to expect any favor from a governor-general ruling in 
the name of the archbishop. Is it not possible that the bold 
thought was entertained of asserting, if it should be neces- 



Winthrop, 1,241. t Neal, III, 229. 



86 

sary, an absolute independence of the English crown, and 
of the English state ? He who reads their records, will find 
nothing to contradict such an hypothesis. May it not have 
been among their imaginings, that the progress of tyranny in 
their native country would bring to New England increasing 
multitudes of such men as they were, with increasing re- 
sources, till, in a few years, they should be able to defy inva- 
sion ? Nay, had not the progress of tyranny in England been 
arrested by the breaking out of civil war, and the subversion 
of the monarchy, might not such an idea have been realized, 
and the Declaration of Independence have been anticipated 
by more than a century ? 

Just before the arrival of the emigrants from Coleman 
street, the Pequot war had made the colonists acquainted 
with a tract of coast till that time unexplored. The soldiers 
who, after the Mystic fight, pursued tlie flying Pequots 
from their ancient seat east of the Thames, to the swamp 
beyond the Housatonic, where their race was extinguished, 
had been struck especially with the vernal beauty of this 
place. Here they had remained several days, waiting for 
information of the route of the enemies they were pursuing. 
Captain Stoughton had written to the Governor of Massa- 
chusetts, " The Providence of God guided us to so excellent 
a country at Quaillipioak river, and so along the coast as we 
travelled, as 1 am confident we have not the like in English 
possession as yet ; and probable it is that the Dutch will seize 
it if the English do not : it is too good for any but friends."* 
Captain Underbill, too, had brought home to Boston his tes- 
timony of " that famous place called Q,ueenapiok," that " it 
hath a fair river, fit for harboring of ships, and abounds 
with rich and goodly meadows."! Mr. Eaton, therefore, 
early in September, came to this place with a few others of 
his company, to examine it in person. He appears to have 
determined at once on this, as the best spot for their under- 
taking ; and accordingly he left a few men here through the 

•* Iluichinson, III, C9. t HI, Mass. Hist. Coll. VI, 13. 



87 

wiiilcr, to make some little preparation for commencing the 
settlement.* 

When Mr. Davenport and his company, in the following 
spring, removed from Massachusetts to this place, bringing 
with them many families who had been settled there, but 
who were induced by the bright prospects of this new enter- 
prise, to remove themselves out of that jurisdiction, the mi- 
gration was felt to be a great weakening of the Massachu- 
setts colony. An admirable letter to the government of that 
colony, was written by Mr. Davenport, and signed by him- 
self and Mr. Eaton, declaring the reasons of their attempting 
a separate and independent colony. Tlie whole letter is full 
of affection and devotion, and the conclusion particularly, 
which I read to you from the original autograph, is eloquent. 

" The season of the year and other weighty considera- 
tions, compelled us to hasten to a full and final conclusion, 
which we are at last come unto, by God's appointment and 
direction, we hope in mercy, and have sent letters to Con- 
necticut for a speedy transacting the purchase of the parts 
about Q,uillypieck from the natives which may pretend title 
thereunto : by which act we are absolutely and irrevocably in- 
gaged that way, and we are persuaded that God will order it 
for good unto these plantations, whose love so abundantly 
above our deserts or expectations, expressed in your desire of 
our abode in these parts, as we shall ever retain in thankful 
memory, so we shall account ourselves thereby obliged to be 
any way instrumental and serviceable for the common good 
of these plantations as well as of those, which the Divine prov- 



* Dr. Dana (Serni. on Completion of 18th Cent., 45) says, " Seven men 
began the settlement in the autumn of 1637. Mr. Joshua Atvvater, a gentle- 
man of distinction and opulence, was of the seven. They passed the win- 
ter in an indifferent shelter, thrown up for the season, near the South Mar- 
ket." He adds that Mr. Atwater " built the house now occupied by his 
great-grandson, Thomas Atwater, a convenient habitation, though older, by 
about fifty years, than any in the city." The same house is still standing in 
Fleet street, owned and occupied by descendants of the original proprietor. 
The " South Market," I am told, was at the intersection of George and Church 
streets will) Meadow street and Congress Avenue. 



88 

ideiice hath combined together in as strong bond of brotherly 
affection, by the sameness of their condition, as Joab and 
Abishai were, whose several armies did mntually strengthen 
them both against several enemies — 2 Sam. 10 — 9, 10, 11, 
or rather they are joined together as Hippocrates his twins, 
to stand and fall, to grow and decay, to flourish and wither, 
to live and die together. In witness of the premises we 
subscribe our names, John Davenport, 

Theoph. Eaton." 

The 12th day of the 1st Month AnnalG38*. 

Behold him then planted here in New Haven. He and 
his friend Eaton build their dwellings over against each 
other on the same street ; and the intimacy begun when they 
were children and strengthened in their earlier manhood, is 
prolonged Avithout interruption, till in a good old age, death 
separates them for a little season, to meet again in heaven. 
They were never out of each other's thoughts ; and rarely 
could a day pass by, in which they did not see each other and 
take counsel together. The voice of prayer, or the evening 
psalm, in one of their dwellings, might be heard in the other. 
Whatever changes came upon one family, the other was sure 
to partake immediately in the sorrow or the joy. In such 
neighborhood and intimacy, these two friends passed their 
days here, till the full strength of manhood in which they 
came, had gradually turned to venerable age. They saw 
trials, many and various ; trials such as weigh heaviest upon 
the spirit, and cause the heart to faint ; but in all their trials 
they had one hope, one consolation ; and how refreshing 
to such men, in such vicissitudes, is the sympathy of kindred 
souls, well-tried and true. Strong in themselves, with the 
gifts of nature, the endowments of education and experience, 
and the unction of Almighty grace ; strong in their indi- 
vidual reliance upon God their help and Savior ; they were 
the stronger for their friendship, the stronger for their mutual 

* This letter was first published in the appendix to Winthiop, (1, 404,) and 
afterwards in the Mass. His. Coll. (Ill Series, III, 165,) from which it has 
been frequently copied. The original is still in possession of F. B. Win- 
throp, Esq., of this city. 



89 

counsels the stronger for the sympathy by which each drew 
the other towards the great fountain of strength, and love, 
and hfe. 

Such are the friendships of good men. Their intima- 
cies make them better, hoher, happier, more patient for en- 
durance, wiser for counsel, stronger for every godlike action. 
" But the ungodly are not so." 



12 



DISCOURSE VI. 

JOHN DAVENPORT AND THEOPHILUS EATON THE FOUNDERS OF 
A NEW REPUBLIC : VICISSITUDES IN NEW HAVEN TILL 1660. 

Matt, iii, 3. — The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the 
way of the Lord. 

Some lineaments of the character of Mr. Davenport and 
his friend Governor Eaton, may be traced in the institutions 
which they gave to the httle community of which they 
were the founders, and in the conduct of that common weahh 
while it was under their controlling influence. None who 
read the records of the town and colony, can doubt either 
that in whatever respects New Haven differed from the other 
New England colonies, the difference was owing chiefly to 
the influence of these two men ; or that in whatever par- 
ticulars the institutions and government of New Haven were 
conformed to those of the other colonies, that conformity 
was because these two men were of the same sort with those 
truly noble men who planted Plymouth, and the Bay, and 
the Connecticut. 

First, then, the fact that John Davenport and Theophilus 
Eaton had this commanding influence in the colony of New 
Haven, shows that they were extraordinary men. What 
gave them this influence over their associates ? They 
brought with them no royal grant making them Lords Pro- 
prietaries, as Penn and Calvert were in their respective prov- 
inces. They had no commission from king or parliament, 
to exercise authority over the emigrants that came with them. 
Their influence could not be ascribed to their wealth ; for 
though Eaton was the wealthiest of the colonists — his estate 
being rated at three thousand pounds ; and though Daven- 
port was one of the nine who, after the governor, were the 
richest inhabitants of the town, their estates being rated at 
one thousand pounds each ; their superiority in this respect 



91 

was at the most but trifling, and in such a country as this 
was then, wealth alone can do but httle towards giving its 
possessor permanent influence. To what then shall we as- 
cribe their controlling influence in the colony ? Will you 
say it was because they were followed hither by a company 
of weak, enthusiastic men, easily led and managed? But 
weak, enthusiastic people, easily managed by one man to-day, 
will be just as easily led by another to-morrow. It was not 
so in this case. The people of New Haven, in eighteen suc- 
cessive annual elections, made Theophilus Eaton their chief 
magistrate ; and for thirty years, through all sorts of changes, 
they adhered to their honored and venerated pastor with con- 
stant attachment. The great power of these two men had 
its seat in the understandings and affections of the people. 
It was none other than the power of intellectual superiority 
combined with unquestionable moral worth. That they 
had such power, in such a community, proves that they were 
of the number of those who are created to govern their fel- 
low men by the divine right of genius and virtue. 

It will be worth our while, then, to look at the distinctive 
character of the New Haven colony, as illustrating the per- 
sonal character of its two principal founders. 

1. New Haven was distinguished above the other colonies 
by its zeal for education. On this point, if I should go into 
all the particulars which would be interesting, I should greatly 
transgress the limits which I have prescribed to myself ; and 
indeed there is the less occasion for this, as the subject has 
been recently treated by another, far better than I could hope 
to do.* I will only say, then, that if we of this city enjoy 
in this respect any peculiar privileges — if it is a privilege that 
any poor man here, with ordinary health in his family, and 
the ordinary blessing of God upon his industry, may give to 
his son, without sending him away from home, the best edu- 
cation which the country affords — if it is a privilege to us to 
live in a city in which learning, sound and thorough educa- 

* Kingsley's Historical Discourse. 



92 

tion, is, equally with commerce and the mechanic arts, a great 
public interest — if it is a privilege to us to record among our 
fellow citizens some of the brightest names in the learning 
and science, not of our country only, but of the age, and to 
be conversant with such men, and subject to their constant 
influence in the various relations of society — if it is a privi- 
lege that our young mechanics, in their associations, can 
receive instruction in popular lectures from the most accom- 
plished teachers — if, in a word, there is any privilege in hav- 
ing our home at one of the fountains of light for this vast 
confederacy — the privilege may be traced to the influence of 
John Davenport, to the peculiar character which he, more 
than any other man, gave to this community in its very be- 
ginning. Every one of us is daily enjoying the eff'ects of 
his wisdom and public spirit. Thus he is to-day our bene- 
factor ; and thus he is to be the benefactor of our posterity 
through ages to come. How aptly might that beautiful apos- 
trophe of one of our poets have been addressed to him : 

" The good begun by thee shall onward flow 
In many a branching stream, and wider grow; 
The seed that in these few and fleeting hours, 
Thy hands, unsparing and unwearied, sow, 
Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers, 
And yield thee fruit divine in heaven's immortal bowers." 

2. Another characteristic of the New Haven colony, while 
it continued under the influence of its two great fathers, was 
great strictness in the administration of the laws. In the 
words of Hubbard, " They were very vigorous in the exe- 
cution of justice, and especially the punishment of offenders." 
The meaning of this is not, that their laws were more severe 
than those of the other colonies ; on the contrary, I am per- 
suaded, after considerable investigation, that the reverse is 
true. The meaning is, that they carried all their laws into 
effect, with a more impartial and undeviating strictness than 
was practiced elsewhere. He who examines our public rec- 
ords, with reference to this matter, will find much reason to 
believe that the historian just quoted did not speak at ran- 



93 

dom. For myself I may say, that in studying these records, 
I have acquired new views of the dignity which belongs 
to the place of the civil magistrate. I seem to see, in the 
proceedings of the courts, in which the Governor constantly 
presided, something of the original of that description which 
Mather has so elaborately given, in writing the life of him 
whom he calls the Moses of New Haven. " He carried in 
his very countenance a majesty which cannot be described ; 
and in his dispensations of justice, he was a mirror for the 
most imitable impartiality, but ungainsayable antbority of his 
proceedings, being awfully sensible of the obligations which 
the oath of a judge lays upon him. Hence he who would 
most patiently bear hard things offered to his person in private 
cases, would never pass by any pubUc affronts or neglects, 
when he appeared under the character of a magistrate. But 
he still was the guide of the blind, the staff of the lame, the 
helper of the widow and the orphan, and all the distressed. 
None that had a good cause was afraid of coming before him. 
On the one side, in his days did the righteous floin'ish ; on 
the other side, he was the terror of evil doers." I cannot 
doubt that this character of Governor Eaton as a magistrate, 
is substantially correct. He and those who were associated 
with him in the government, appear to have been greatly 
distinguished by a strong love of justice. They felt that it 
was for them to see to it always that the "rules of righteous- 
ness" were " duly attended." Such a feeling was inculca- 
ted upon them, and upon the people, by their pastor. He 
had strong views of the divine institution of civil govern- 
ment, and especially of that government which the people 
here had agreed upon as most agreeable to the will of God. 
Never elsewhere, I believe, has the world seen magistrates 
who felt more deeply that they were God's ministers execu- 
ting God's justice. The law which they administered was 
not the law of man merely ; it was not simply a conventional 
code, or an arbitrary system of regulations ; it was the law of 
God, the great eternal rule of righteousness, drawn out and 
applied to the particular exigencies of this community ; and 



94 

they felt that for them to wink at any offenses against it, was 
to usurp God's supremacy. 

Something of the effect of this influence still lingers among 
us. No small part of our population consists of strangers, if 
not foreigners — men whose whole character has been formed 
elsewhere and under other agencies. Magistracy too has lost 
much of its sacredness, by being sometimes committed to 
unclean or incompetent hands, and by the abuse which party 
malignancy continually heaps upon the persons of magis- 
trates. Yet, after all, there is here a veneration for law, and 
a " deference to judicial decisions,"* which I have not seen 
surpassed in any similar community. Wo to those men who 
are laboring to counteract such a sentmient. If they do it in 
the sacred name of liberty, or in the more sacred name of 
philanthropy, theirs is the greater condemnation. Far dis- 
tant be the day when here the white wand of an unarmed 
constable shall lose its potency, or when that word, the law, 
shall no longer be a word of power to still the tumult of the 
people. 

* One day last spring, just before the delivery of this discourse, the author, 
being in Boston, entered the gallery of the Marlborough chapel, where a so- 
ciety, claiming a high place among the philanthropic institutions of the age, 
was holding its anniversary. One of the leading spirits and public agents of 
the society was holding forth his sentiments on that part of the Federal Con- 
stitution, which requires an apprentice or servant fleeing from one State into 
another, to be given up to those who, by the laws of the State from which 
he flees, are entitled to his services. He was expressing the hope that juries 
in New England, trying cases under this constitutional law, would so far 
perjure themselves as to bring in verdicts contrary to known law and fact ; 
and in so doing, he expressed great contempt for that " strange deference to 
judicial decisions," as he called it, which is so prevalent in the community, — 
as if he did not know that it is this very deference to law as expounded and 
applied by the judges of the land, that permits him to wear his head in 
safety. 

An association, protesting against an existing law as unwise, or unjust, and 
using lawful means to change the law, is one thing. An association which 
undertakes to pronounce the law no law, — to denounce the sworn ministers 
of the law, to whom the constitution gives no discretionary power, as crimi- 
nals " against freedom, humanity and religion," — to organize measures for 
resisting the law, — is another thing, and is likely to do more harm, by teach- 
ing people to despise all government and magistracy, than it can do good by 
any philanthropic endeavors. 



95 

3. The colony of New Haven was distinguished among 
the colonies of the New England confederation, for scrupu- 
lous justice towards the Indians. Hubbard testifies respect- 
ing the fathers of New Haven, — " They have all along been 
mercifully preserved from any harm or violence from the In- 
dians, setting aside a particular assault or two, the means 
whereof hath been a due carefulness in doing justice to them 
upon all occasions against the English, yet far avoiding any 
thing like severity or flattery for base ends."* How often, 
and how justly, has Penn been lauded for the fact, that under 
his administration his colony had no collision with the Indians. 
And is not the same praise due to the civil and religious lead- 
ers of the New Haven colony for the parallel fact, that the 
relations between New Haven and the wild tribes around 
were always those of perfect amity ? The Indians of this 
neighborhood, as all our records show, looked upon their 
English neighbors as their protectors. When one of them 
felt himself wronged by the white men, he came to the courts 
here with his complaint as freely as if he were a citizen. 
The testimony of an Indian was good against a white man. 
Again and again white men were found guilty and punished 
on no other testimony. The white man who wronged an 
Indian, was punished the more severely, as his conduct tended 
to prejudice the heathen against the gospel, and to cause the 
name of God to be blasphemed among the Gentiles. The 
Indian who was found guilty of an oftense, was treated the 
more gently because of his ignorance, and being dismissed 
with such punishment as the rules of righteousness seemed 
to require in such a case, was told that had he been an 
Englishman he would not have come off so easily. All the 
maligners of the Puritans may be defied to show, that one 
rood of ground, within this colony, w^as acquired otherwise 
than by a free, fair bargain, and equitable payment.f In all 
this you see the character of those two men by whom the 
policy of this jurisdiction was chiefly influenced, just as 

* Hubbard, 322. 

t Some details on this subject will be found iu the Appendix No. VIII. 



96 

plainly as in some recent measures towards the Indians you 
see the character, — I will not say of those who are in author- 
ity, — but of those by whose influence in this matter, those in 
authority are governed, as the clouds are turned by the wind. 

4. The little theocracy in which Eaton and Davenport 
were the Moses and Aaron, was distinguished from the other 
New England colonies by the absence of frivolous or extrav- 
agant legislation. Great ridicule has been thrown upon the 
Puritans for their sumptuary laws, their regulations respect- 
ing dress, manners, and expenditure, their authoritative in- 
terference with the varying fashions of the day. And to a 
great extent it has been taken for granted, upon unfounded 
report, that the old New Haven colony was the scene of 
whatever was most absurd, or most ludicrous in that sort of 
legislation. Liars of all degrees, as if to take their revenge 
on Governor Eaton for his law against lying, have exercised 
their talent in defaming his memory, by defaming the colony 
for which he lived. 

Now as for sumptuary laws, — laws regulating expenditure 
and restraining extravagance and folly, — I have no disposition 
to vindicate them on the score of policy. But that they are 
intrinsically and essentially ridiculous, I cannot admit. I 
have never ascertained from history that such laws, enacted 
by Lycurgus or Numa Pompilius, brought boundless con- 
tempt upon their authors. And how such laws must needs 
be more absurd or ludicrous in Massachusetts, than they 
were in Sparta or in Rome, I am at a loss to understand. And 
still more mysterious is it, how the New Haven colony, in 
which no such laws ever existed, should be made a scape- 
goat, to bear away into the wilderness the sins in this particu- 
lar of her more eastern confederates. 

Laws were made in some of the colonies, prohibiting the 
use of tobacco, which was considered as a sort of intoxication. 
To the lovers of tobacco, this doubtless seems arbitrary and 
absurd. But such as are unable to enter into their peculiar 
feelings, having never acquired a relish for this filthiest and 
most noisome of narcotic poisons, may be excused from join- 



97 

ing on this account in the condemnation of Puritan tyranny, 
and may perhaps be allowed to entertain some doubt whether 
such a law, especially in a new colony, might not be reason- 
ably vindicated. Bat however that question may be decided, 
the matter of fact is, that the use of tobacco, in a proper place, 
was not unlaAvful in the New Haven jurisdiction. The only 
law here on this subject, was a law to guard agamst acci- 
dents by fire ; and it prohibited the taking of tobacco "in the 
streets," or "about the houses," or " in any place where it can 
do mischief." Similar laws now exist in the cities of Massa- 
chusetts, and ought to exist in every city that pretends to be 
well regulated. 

Laws were made in some of the colonies against men's 
wearing long hair ; laws which, to those who have observed 
how some of the foplings of this day are beginning to cari- 
cature humanity, and to make themselves more hideous than 
owls, will seem to be very excusable ; but no such laws ex- 
isted in New Haven. 

Laws were made elsewhere to restrain the vagaries and 
follies of fashion in regard to female attire. But I can find 
no evidence that any thing of the kind was here attempted. 
Here the ladies were permitted, as now, to put on whatever 
decorations seemed good in their own eyes, and in the eyes 
of their husbands and fathers, subject to no other checks than 
those imposed by the good sense of a sober-minded and in- 
telligent community. 

The reason of all this must be found in the fact that the 
settlers of New Haven, and especially those two by whose 
influence every thing of this kind appears to have been chiefly 
directed, were men who saw, or at least felt, the impolicy of 
legislative interference in such matters. The other colonies 
were settled by emigrants from various provincial towns and 
agricultural districts ; and in the eyes of such people, how- 
ever intelligent and sensible in other respects, novelties and 
extravagances of apparel are apt to seem particularly heinous. 
New Haven was settled chiefly by a migration from the city 
of London ; the principal adventurers were merchants ; and 

13 



98 

the two leaders ■Were men who had seen the various modes 
and fashions of various countries, and whose position in their 
own country had enabled them to see so much of " Vanity 
Fair," that they were not easily alarmed by the few rags of it 
which might follow them into the wilderness. If the weight- 
ier matters of education, religious order and instruction, sound 
morals, and the thorough execution of justice, could be secur- 
ed, they were willing that others should care for the " mint, 
anise, and cummin" of apparel and furniture. 

I shall be considered by some as giving a partial, if not a 
partisan view, if I fail to notice two other topics, which, 
however, can be noticed here only very briefly. 

Did these men believe in witchcraft ? Certainly they did. 
Mr. Davenport, as well as Mr. Hooke, introduced the sub- 
ject sometimes into his preaching, just as Sir William Black- 
stone, at a much later period, introduced it into his commen- 
taries on the laws of England. Mr. Davenport probably 
never called in question for a moment, the then universal 
opinion of the reality of commerce between human beings 
and the invisible powers of darkness. And shall he be set 
down as a weak and credulous man because he did not throw 
off all the errors of the age ? Shall the age in which he lived 
be deemed an age of extraordinary credulity, because it did 
not rid itself of prejudices and terrors which had been grow- 
ing in the world ever since the flood ? Shall the age of an- 
imal magnetism take credit to itself because it does not be- 
lieve in witchcraft ? 

Yet it may be stated, as one of the points of difference be- 
tween this and the sister colonies, that there was never any 
execution or condemnation for witchcraft within the bounds 
of the New Haven jurisdiction. One execution took place 
at Hartford in 1647, and, within a few years afterwards, an- 
other at Stratford, and a third at Fairfield. In 1648, the 
first execution for this crime took place in Massachusetts. 
But here, in 1653, a woman finding herself talked of as sus- 
pected, sued all her neighbors, including several of the first 
people in New Haven, for defamation ; and the result was, 



99 

that while she was herself constrained to acknowledge that 
some things in her conduct were sufficient to justify suspi- 
cion — among which causes of suspicion, was that discontented 
and fro ward temper which Mr. Davenport in his preaching 
had described as preparing a person to be wrought upon by 
the devil in this way ; — and though she was seriously warn- 
ed by the court not to go about with railing speeches, but to 
meddle with her own business ; the crime of witchcraft could 
not be made out against her. Twice afterwards the same 
person was called in question for this crime, but in each case, 
though the evidence was sufficient, according to the notions 
then current, to justify suspicion, she escaped condemnation. 
Under almost any other jurisdiction of that age, this woman, 
instead of dying as she did in her bed, would have died upon 
the gallows, or have been burned alive. The reason of her 
escaping here must be found, I apprehend, in the fact that 
here, according to their interpretation of the "judicial laws 
of God," nothing was considered as proved but by the testi- 
mony of two or more witnesses to the same particular ; and 
in the fact that there was no jury here, to determine the 
question of guilt or innocence, according to their impressions 
received from the testimony as a whole. The trial by jury 
is invaluable as a security for liberty against a strong govern- 
ment, but it is not the surest way of excluding popular pre- 
judices and passions from the administration of justice.* 

But I am asked again, Did not these good fathers of ours 
inflict punishment on the Quakers ? I answer, They did, 
not indeed by hanging, but by branding, whipping, and 
fining ; and I doubt not that if these penalties had not kept 
their coast clear from such invaders, they would have pro- 
ceeded to hanging. They did not understand aright the 
great principles of universal religious freedom. They came 
here for their own freedom and peace ; and that freedom and 
peace they thought themselves authorized and bound to de- 
fend against all invaders. The Quakers, however, whom 

* Kingsley, 53 and 100, 



100 

they punished, were not a sect rising up on the soil of New 
England, and claiming simply the right of separate worship 
and of free discussion. They were invaders who came from 
Old England to New, for the sole and declared purpose of 
disturbance and revolution. They came propagating prin- 
ciples which were understood to strike at the foundation not 
only of the particular religious and civil polity here establish- 
ed, but of all order and of society itself. In their manner of 
proceeding they outraged peace and order, openly cursing 
and reviling the faith and worship which the New England- 
ers had come to the world's end to enjoy in quietness, the ma- 
gistrates venerable for wisdom and public spirit, and the min- 
isters whose gifts and faithfulness were esteemed the bright- 
est glory of the land. They outraged the religious rights and 
freedom of those whom they came to enlighten, thrusting 
themselves into worshiping assemblies on the Lord's day and 
on other occasions, and interrupting the worship or the ser- 
mon with their outcries of contradiction and cursing. They 
outraged natural decency itself: one of their women-preach- 
ers, Deborah Wilson by name, " went through the streets of 
Salem naked as she came into the world ;"* and in other in- 
stances, they came in the same plight into the public religious 
assemblies ;f and all to show by that sign the nakedness of 
other people's sins. I cannot doubt that such people — if in- 
deed they were not too insane to be accountable for any 
thing — deserved to be punished, not for their opinions, but 
for their actions ; not for their exercising their own rights, 
but for their invading the rights of others ; not for their pub- 
lication of offensive and even disorganizing doctrines, but for 
their outrages on decorum, and their disturbances of the pub- 
lic peace. If we condemn our fathers in this matter, it should 
not be because they punished such offenders, but because 
they punished them for heresy. 

But let us compare the conduct of our ancestors in this 
very matter, with the conduct of some in our more enlight- 

* Hutchinson, I, 204. t Mather, Magn., VII, 100. 



101 

ened and free thinking age. The real successors of the 
(iuakers of that day — the men who come nearest to those 
enthusiasts in their actual relations to the public — are not to 
be found in those orderly and thrifty citizens of Philadelphia 
who are distinguished from their fellow citizens in Chestnut 
street, by a little more circumference of the hat, and a little 
peculiarity of grammar, and perhaps a little more quietness 
and staidness of manner. What we call Quakers in this 
generation, are no more like George Fox in his suit of leather, 
than the pomp and riches of an English Archbishop are like 
the poverty of an Apostle, Do you find these men going 
about like mad men, reviling magistrates, and all in authority, 
cursing ministers, and publishing doctrines that strike at the 
existence of all government ? No, if you would find the true 
successors of the Quakers of 1650, you must look elsewhere. 
The anti-slavery agitators of our day, are extensively re- 
garded very much as the Quakers were regarded by our an- 
cestors. Some of them execrate our constitution and our 
laws, and revile our magistrates, and utter all manner of re- 
proach against our ministers and our churches. Some of 
them go about preaching doctrines which tend not only to 
the extinction of the " peculiar institutions" of one part of om' 
country, and the subversion of our " glorious union," but to 
absolute and universal anarchy. We cannot indeed charge 
upon them every thing that was charged upon the ancient 
Quakers ; Mr. Garrison himself has not yet put on the leather 
jerkin of George Fox ; nor have we heard of his attempting, 
hke Humphrey Norton, to break in with his ravings upon the 
solemn worship of a religious assembly on the Sabbath ; nor 
has Miss Grimke, or Miss Abby Kelly, set herself to testify 
against the sins of the people in just the same style with 
Deborah Wilson. But they have published doctrines highly 
offensive to public opinion, and as is commonly believed 
highly dangerous to society ; they have invaded Congress 
with their petitions ; nay, it is even reported that they have 
been seen in public places, walking arm in arm with persons 
of African descent and complexion. And how are these men 



102 

treated, in our age of toleration and free inquiry ? How are 
they treated by those who are most fiercely liberal, in the 
condemnation of our ancestors for persecuting the Quakers ? 
The answer is found in the roar of mobs and the smoke of 
smouldering ruins — in presses violently suppressed — in the 
murder of editors, and the acquittal of the murderers by per- 
jured jurymen. How are they treated in those enlightened 
regions of the Union, where Puritanism, Blue laws, and New 
England intolerance, are renounced most fervently and de- 
voutly ? Let one of these " pestilent fanatics" adventure on 
a mission in Mississippi or Virginia, and how much better 
does he fare than Humphrey Norton fared in Plymouth and 
New Haven ?* The " little finger" of a Lynch Committee, 
is " thicker than the loins" of a Puritan magistracy, against 
the fanatics that make war upon established opinions and 
cherished institutions. 

What then is the chief difference between that age and 
the present, inres^iect to tolerance, in an extreme case like that 
of the Quakers ? The difference is just this. Our ancestors 
made laws against the fanatics with whom they had to do, 
and boldly and manfully maintained those laws. The Qua- 
ker who suffered in New England, suffered the penalty of a 
known law, after a judicial conviction. In our day, on the 
other hand, laws to limit freedom of opinion and of discus- 
sion, are inconsistent with the enlightened and liberal max- 
ims of government, that now so happily prevail ; and there- 
fore what the law cannot do, in that it is weak, must be done 
by the mob, without law and against law, in that high court 
of equity where rage, more fanatical than any other fanati- 
cism, is at once accuser, witness, judge, and executioner. 

But we return to our narrative of the life of Davenport. 
Some things which might properly be included in such a nar- 
rative, have already been noticed, in the account which has 
been given of the organization of the Church, the election 
and ordination of officers, the erection of the house of wor- 
ship, and the forms of worship and of discipline. 

* Kingsley, 99. 



103 

At first, as we have already observed, the two chief foun- 
ders of our community saw their enterprise succeeding in 
some measure according to their hopes. Immediately a 
town, with " ftiir and stately houses," began to rise around 
them. The foundations of the Church and of the civil State 
were laid according to their apprehensions of the word of 
God. The house of worship was reared, and filled with 
devout and consenting worshipers. Confederate neighbor 
towns were built on the right and on the left, and planta- 
tions of great promise were made on the island. And while 
in their native country all things were tending to confusion, 
and men's hearts were failing them for fear of what might 
come upon the land in the progress of God's judgments, here 
seemed to be realized more and more the vision of the new 
heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness ; 
and already men were beginning to look to this new world 
for lights and models by which to reform the institutions of 
the old. 

In the year 1642, letters were sent from several members 
of both houses of parliament, and from some ministers in 
England, earnestly inviting Mr. Davenport, with Mr. Hooker 
of Hartford and Mr. Cotton of Boston, to return to their na- 
tive country for a season, in order to assist in conducting to 
a happy issue the great revolution then in progress there. 
Those who made the request are said to have been desirous 
of securing the independence of the Churches, and were 
probably solicitous to obtain in England at that time the as- 
sistance of men so distinguished by their abilities and expe- 
rience, who would take strong ground not only against the 
then established system, but also against that " classic hier- 
archy," as Milton called it, which the Scotch were then 
endeavoring to force upon the English Churches. - " The 
condition," said they, " wherein the state of things in this 
kingdom doth now stand, we suppose you have from the re- 
lations of others ; whereby you cannot but understand how 
great need there is of the help of prayer, and improvement 
of all good means, from all parts, for the settling and com- 



104 

posing the affairs of the Cliurch. We therefore present to 
you our earnest desires of you all. To show wherein, or 
how many ways, you may be useful, would easily be done 
by us, and found by you, were you present with us. In all 
likelihood you will find opportunity enough to draw forth all 
that helpfulness which God shall afford by you. And we 
doubt not these advantages will be such, as will fully answer 
all inconveniences yourselves, Churches or plantations, may 
sustain in this your short voyage and absence from them. 
Only the sooner you come, the better." 

When this invitation was received at Boston, such of the 
magistrates and ministers of that colony as could be conveni- 
ently assembled, met for consultation. Most of them thought 
that it was to be regarded as " a call of God ;" yet they chose 
not to give any definite advice till they should hear from 
Connecticut and New Haven. Upon the return of the mes- 
senger that was sent to these parts, it appeared that Mr. 
Hooker was averse to the proposal, " nor thought it any suf- 
ficient call for them to go a thousand leagues to confer with 
a few persons that differed from the rest in matter of church 
government." Mr. Davenport was himself of a different 
mind ; but the brethren of his Church, having set time apart 
to understand the mind of God in the case, came to the con- 
clusion, '' that in regard they had but one officer, they could 
not see their way clear to spare him for so long a time as 
such a journey required." Mr. Cotton was strongly inclined 
to comply with the invitation, and would have gone, if the 
others had not declined going. Had any of them gone, it is 
probable they would have been drawn, like Hugh Peters, into 
the vortices of that vast commotion, and would never have 
returned to their Churches in New England.* 

* Wintlirop, II, 76. Hubbard, 409. Hutchinson, I, 115. It is somewliat 
remarkable that tl)ese letters are said to have contained an invitation to seats 
in the famous Westminster Assembly. The fact is, that tlie parliamentary 
ordinance calling that Assembly bears date June 12, 1643; and yet these let- 
ters were received in Boston in September, 1642. The invitation, signed by 
members of both houses of Parliament, and by some ministers, (wliicli Hutch- 
inson gives at full length,) makes no mention of any expected Synod or As- 



105 

For a while, the colonists here adiiered steadfastly to their 
original plan, of supporting themselves in their exile, and 
building up their town, by commerce. They built some 
shipping. They purchased lands on the Delaware, and at 
some other places, and erected trading-houses to buy beaver 
of the natives. They sent their cargoes into foreign parts, 
and expected to make such gains as would support and extend 
their town, so beautifully planned. But soon it began to ap- 
pear that their commercial enterprises, undertaken perhaps on 
too large a scale at first, and with too little knowledge of the 
particular nature of the busmess, were likely to be involved 
in disaster. Some of their number seem to have returned to 
England ; while not a few, who had been expected to bring 
large accessions of wealth and strength, never came. Those 
that remained found their estates sinking so fast, that some- 
thing must be done to retrieve their fortunes, or all their 
hopes would fail. Accordingly, about eight years after their 
arrival here, '' they did, as it were, gather all their re- 
maining strength to the building and loading out one ship for 
England, to try if any better success might befal them." 
The ship, whose name no record and no tradition has re- 
tained, seems to have been the property of an association. 
The " company of merchants in New Haven," consisting of 
Mr. Eaton, Mr. Gregson, Mr. Malbon, and Mr. Goodyear, ap- 
pear to have united their resources in building, equipping and 
loading the vessel.* " Into this ship," says an ancient histo- 
rian, " they put in a manner all their tradeable estates, much 
corn, and large quantities of plate ;" and among the seventy 
that embark for the voyage, are several " of very precious ac- 
count" in the colony. In the month of January, 1646, the 
harbor being frozen over, a passage is cut through the ice, 



sembly. Such a synod as that afterwards convened at Westminster, was 
proposed as early as December, 1641 ; and it is not improbable that private 
letters, accompanying the formal invitation, urged these New England di- 
vines by the argument that a synod was likely to be called, and that if they 
were on that side of the ocean, they might have places in that body, and thus 
great influence in remodeling the Clnirch of England. 
* Colony Records. 

14 



106 

with saws, for three miles; and " the great ship," on which 
so much depends, is out upon the waters, and ready to begin 
her voyage. Mr. Davenport and a great company of the peo- 
ple go out upon the ice, to give the last farewell to their 
friends. The pastor, in solemn prayer, commends them to 
the protection of God, and they depart. The winter passes 
away ; the ice-bound harbor breaks into ripples before the 
soft breezes of the spring. Vessels from England arrive on 
the coast ; but they bring no tidings of the New Haven 
ship. Vain is the solicitude of wives and children, of kindred 
and friends. Vain are all inquiries. 

"They ask the waves, and ask the felon winds, 
And question every gust of rugged wings 
That hlows from oft' each beaked promontory." 

Month after month, hope waits for tidings. Affection, unwil- 
ling to believe the worst, frames one conjecture and another 
to account for the delay. Perhaps they have been blown out 
of their track upon some undiscovered shore, from which 
they will by and by return, to surprise us with their safety : — 
perhaps they have been captured, and are now in confine- 
ment. How many prayers are offered for the return of that 
ship, with its priceless treasures of life and affection ! At 
last, anxiety gradually settles down into despair. Gradually 
they learn to speak of the wise and public spirited Gregson, 
the brave and soldier-like Turner, the adventurous Lamber- 
ton, that "right godly woman" the wife of Mr. Goodyear, 
and the others, as friends whose faces are never more to be 
seen among the liviiig. In November, 1647, their estates are 
settled, and they are put upon record as deceased. Yet they 
were not forgotten ; but long afterwards, the unknown mel- 
ancholy fate of those who sailed in Lamberton's ship, threw 
its gloomy shadow over many a fireside circle.* 

* Ten members of the Church were of the company in 
" That fatal and perfidious bark. 

Built in the eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark." 
" Divers manuscripts of some great men in the country, sent over for the 
service of the Church," were also " buried in the ocean." Among these 



107 

Two years and five months from the saiUng of that ship, 
in an afternoon in June, after a thunder storm, not far from 
sunset, there appeared ov^er the harbor of New Haven, the 
form of the keel of a ship with three masts, to which were 
suddenly added all the tackling and sails ; and presently 
after, upon the highest part of the deck, a man standing 
with one hand leaning against his left side, and in his right 
hand a sword pointing towards the sea. The phenomenon 
continued about a quarter of an hour, and was seen by a 
crowd of wondering witnesses, — till at last, from the farther 
side of the ship, there arose a great smoke, which covered 
all the ship ; and in that smoke she vanished away. Fifty 
years afterwards, while several of the witnesses of this 
strange appearance were yet alive, the story was great in the 
traditions of the colony ; and it was reported by some of the 
survivors, that Mr. Davenport publicly declared '' that God 
had condescended to give, for the quieting of their afflicted 
spirits, this extraordinary account of his disposal of those for 
whom so many prayers had been offered."* 

were Hooker's " Survey of the Sum of Church Discipline,'" and Daven- 
port's "Power of Congregational Churches;" both of which were after- 
wards re-written by the authors. 

* Hubbard (321) gives a full account of the building and sailing of Lani- 
berton's ship, but says nothing of the famous atmospiieric plienomcnon which 
the traditions of New Haven colony connected with the loss of their great 
ship. Winthrop, whose history is like a newspaper of the times, mentions 
the sailing of the vessel (H, 254,) at the time, mentions also the loss, (266,) 
when the loss became certain, and afterwards repeats the whole story with 
corrections. He says, she was of " about 100 tons," " laden with pease and 
some wheat all in bulk, 200 West India hides and store of beaver and plate, 
so as it was estimated in all at 5000 poimds." There was a tempest not long 
after she sailed. According to Pierpont, she was " of about one hundred and 
fifty tons." 

The account of the phantom-ship is given by Winthrop, (H, 328,) under 
the date of June 28, 1648. His story is the story as he heard it at Boston. 
Mather (Magn. I, 25) gives, in a letter from Mr. Pierpont, the story as it was 
reported at New Haven, half a century afterwards, by " the most sensible, ju- 
dicious and curious surviving observers." The identity of the two accounts 
seems to me more striking than the comparatively slight diversities. 

The mistake in Mr. Pierpont's letter respecting the year in which Lamber- 
ton's ship was lost, is rationally accounted for by Mr. Savage, in his note 
on the passage in Winthrop. I may add, however, that the records of the 



108 

In the year 1651, Mr. Davenport was invited to remove to 
Boston and become the pastor of a new Church there — the 
second Church in that town, which was organized the year 
before.* But his attachment to New Haven was too strong. 
He chose rather to remain in this little and unprosperous col- 
ony, where the entire constitution, ecclesiastical and civil, 
was conformed to his views of the mind of God, than to 
leave these interests for a settlement in a more prosperous 
community. 

In the year 1657, the colonies of Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut united in calling a general Synod, to meet at Boston, 
for consultation on certain questions of ecclesiastical order, 
which had in some way grown out of a painful and pro- 
tracted controversy in the Church at Hartford. A letter was 
sent to the General Court of this colony, requesting them to 
send some of the elders of their Churches to assist in the 
Synod. The questions proposed for the consideration of the 
Synod, were numerous, and some of them harmless enough. 
But the great questions to be resolved, were questions that 
struck directly at the purity and liberty of the Churches, and 
even at their existence as independent of the civil power ; 
and they seem to have been got up by a party desirous of 
introducing that lax administration of church ordinances, 
which characterizes all countries where religion is secular- 
ized by the subjection of the Church to the state. At Mr. 
Davenport's advice, who saw that the object of the disaf- 
fected party was to unsettle those foundations which he re- 
garded as all-important, the General Court of New Haven 
colony returned to the invitation from Massachusetts a cour- 
teous but decided negative.! 

town, might mislead a hasty reader as to the time when Lamberton and 
Gregson disappeared from tiie scene. But the probate records, as they con- 
tain a will made by one of the passengers when she was about to embarki 
confirm the date given by Winthrop. 

Another great ship was built at New Haven in 1646, and some more dili- 
gent explorer may find that I have not distinguished between that and Lam- 
berton's with suflicient accuracy. Lamberton's is said to have been built at 
Rhode Island. Magn. I, 25. 

* Town Records. Ware, Hist, of Second Church in Boston, .'">. 

t Trumbull, I, 300. Colony Records. 



109 

During the same year, in compliance with a proposal from 
the commissioners of the miited colonies, Mr. Davenport, 
together with Mr. Higginson, then minister of Guilford, and 
Mr. Pierson, then minister of Branford, were requested by 
the General Court for the jurisdiction, " to gather up the 
most remarkable passages of God's providence in these parts, 
which have been observable since their first beginnings, 
which may be a heap towards the compiling of a history of 
of the gracious providences of God to New England."* 
Whether any thing was done in consequence of this re- 
quest does not appear. The record is interesting, as show- 
ing the carefulness of our ancestors to let nothing be lost, 
which might tend either to the glory of God, or to the in- 
struction of their posterity. 

In January, 1658, not quite twenty years after the beginning 
of the colony, all New England, but most of all, Mr. Dav- 
enport, was bereaved by the death of the excellent Theophi- 
lus Eaton. This good man had been wont to say, " Some 
count it a great matter to die well ; but I am sure it is a 
greater matter to live well. All our care should be, while we 
have our life, to use it well ; and so when death puts an end 
to that, it will put an end to all our cares." Having lived 
according to thu spirit of this maxim, making it all his care 
to live well, " God would have him to die well," says the 
quaint historian, "without any room or time then given to 
care at all ; for he enjoyed a death sudden to every one but 
himself." Having worshiped God with his family after his 
usual manner, and upon some occasion having charged all 
the family to be attentive to their mistress then confined by 
sickness, " he supped ; and then took a turn or two abroad for 
his meditations." After that, he came in to bid his wife good 
night, before leaving her with those who were to watch with 
her. She said to him, "Methinks you look sad." He re- 
plied, "■ The differences arisen in the church of Hartford 
make me sad." She then, discontented as she long had 
been, said, "Let us even go back to our native country." 
To which, he answered, " You may, but I shall die here." 



* Colony Records. 



no 

This was the last word she ever heard him speak. He re- 
tired to his chamber ; and about midnight he was heard to 
groan ; and to some one who instantly came in to inquire 
how he did, he answered only, "Very ill," and immedi- 
ately fell asleep in Jesus.* 

He died in the night between the 7th and 8th of January, 
and was buried on the 11th, as the record states with un- 
wonted particularity, "■ about two in the afternoon."! His 
grave is just behind the pulpit window; where "the come- 
ly tomb, such as the colony was capable of," stood, till with- 
in a few years past, the memorial of his worth and of the 
people's gratitude. Many were the expressions of public 
veneration for that " man of singular wisdom, godliness, and 
experience," which found a place in the records of the town 
and of the colony. 

That the grief of the people at his loss, and the honors paid 
to his memory, were not extravagant, appears from the ac- 
count of his character given by the early historians of New 
England. And in these days of faction, when it is so exten- 
sively held that man's private and personal character has 
little or nothing to do with his qualifications for elevated 
stations in the commonwealth, it may be useful as well as re- 
freshing, to dwell a little upon their delineation of the char- 
acter of one of New England's primitive statesmen. 

Hubbard, himself partly cotemporary with Governor Eaton, 
says of him, " After he saw the manner of the country, he 
soon gave over trading, and betook himself to husbandry, 
wherein, though he met with the inconveniences usual to 
others, which very much consumed his estate, yet he main- 
tained a port in some measure answerable to his place ; and 
although he was capable of, and had been much used in af- 



* Magnalia,II, 29. 

t There is, however, an error in the record, which was probably copied by 
Trumbull, (see Kingsley, 77. J Gov. Eaton's death, as we begin the year, 
was in January, 1658. According to the old mode, beginning the year on the 
2.5th of March, it was in January, 1657. This is the date on the tombstone ; 
and it is confirmed by the records of the courts. But the record of dealJis 
says, 1656. Perhaps the secretary's eye was blinded by a tear. 



Ill 

fairs of a far nobler and broader nature, as having with 
good advantage more than once stood before kings, yet did 
he apply himself to the mean and low things of New Eng- 
land, with that dexterity and humility as was much to see, 
and with so much constancy that no temptations or solicita- 
tions could prevail with him to leave his work and look back 
towards Europe again." *' This man had in him great 
gifts, and as many excellencies as are usually found in any 
one man : he had an excellent princely face and port, com- 
manding respect from all others : he was a good scholar, a 
traveler, a great reader, of an exceeding steady and even 
spirit, not easily moved to passion, and standing unshaken in 
his principles when once fixed upon, of a profound judg- 
ment, full of majesty and authority in his judicatures, so that 
it was a vain thing to offer to brave him out, and yet in his 
ordinary conversation, and among friends, of such pleasant- 
ness of behavior and such felicity and fecundity of harmless 
wit as can hardly be paralleled : but above all he was seasoned 
with religion, close in closet duties, solemn and substantial 
in family worship, a diligent and constant attender upon all 
public ordinances, taking notes of the sermons he heard ex- 
actly, and improving them accordingly ; in short, approving 
himself in the whole course of his life, in faithfulness, wis- 
dom, and inoffensiveness before God and man."* 

In the same manner, but with some touches more particu- 
lar and therefore more instructive, is the character of this 
good man described by Mather. 

"As in his government of the commonwealth, so in the 
government of his family, he was prudent, serious, happy to 
a wonder ; and albeit he sometimes had a large family, con- 
sisting of no less than thirty persons, yet he managed them 
with such an even temper, that observers have affirmed, they 
never saw a house ordered with more wisdom. He kept an 
honorable and hospitable table ; but one thing that still made 
the entertainment thereof the better, was the continual pres- 

* Hubbard, 329, 330. 



112 

ence of his aged mother, by feeding of wliom with an exem- 
plary piety till she died, he ensured his own prosperity as 
long as he lived. His children and servants he would might- 
ily encourage unto the study of the Scriptures, and counte- 
nance their addresses unto himself with any of their inquiries ; 
but when he discerned any of them sinfully negligent about 
the concerns either of their general or particular callings, he 
would admonish them with such a penetrating efficacy, that 
they could scarce forbear falling down at his feet with tears. 
A word of his was enough to steer them ! 

" So exemplary was he for a Christian, that one who had 
been a servant unto him, could many years after say, What- 
ever difficulty in my daily walk I now meet withal, still 
something that I either saw or heard in my blessed master 
Eaton's conversation, helps me through it all ; I have reason 
to bless God that ever I knew him ! It was his custom when 
he first rose in a morning, to repair unto his study ; a study 
well perfumed with the meditations and supplications of a 
holy soul. After this, calling his family together, he would 
then read a portion of the scripture among them, and after 
some devout and useful reflections upon it, he would make a 
prayer not long, but extraordinarily pertinent and reverent; 
and in the evening some of the same exercises were again at- 
tended. On the Saturday morning he would still take notice 
of the approaching Sabbath in his prayer, and ask the grace to 
be remembering of it, and preparing for it ; and when the 
evening arrived, he, besides this, not only repeated a sermon, 
but also instructed his people, with putting of questions re- 
ferring to the points of religion, which would oblige them to 
study for an answer ; and if their answer were at any time 
insufficient, he would wisely and gently enlighten their un- 
derstanding ; all which he concluded by singing a psalm. 
When the Lord's day came, he called his family'' together at 
the time for the ringing of the first bell, and repeated a ser- 
mon, wheremito he added a fervent prayer, especially tending 
unto the sanctification of the day. At noon he sang a psalm, 
and at night he retired an hour into his closet : advising those 



113 

in his house to improve the same time for the good of their 
own souls. He then called his family together again, and in 
an obliging manner conferred with them about the things 
with which they had been entertained in the house of God, 
shutting up all with a prayer for the blessing of God upon 
them all. For .solemn days of humiliation, or of thanksgiv- 
ing, he took the same course, and endeavored still to make 
those that belonged unto him, understand the meaning of the 
services before them. He seldom used any recreations, but 
being a great reader, all the time he could spare from com- 
pany and business, he commonly spent in his beloved 
study." 

'' His eldest son he maintained at the College until he pro- 
ceeded master of arts ; and he v/as indeed the son of his vows, 
and the son of great hopes. But a severe catarrh diverted 
this young gentleman from the work of the ministry, where- 
to his father had once devoted him ; and a malignant fever 
then raging in those parts of the country, carried off him 
with his wife within two or three days of one another.* 
This Avas counted the sorest of all the trials that ever befell 
his father in the days of the years of his pilgrimage ; but he 
bore it with a patience and composure of spirit which was 
truly admirable. His dying son looked earnestly on him, 
and said, ' Sir, what shall we do ?' Whereto, with a well- 
ordered countenance, he replied, ' Look up to God !' And 
when he passed by his daughter drowned in tears on this 
occasion, to her he said, ' Remember the sixth command- 
ment, hurt not yourself with immoderate grief ; remember 
Job, who said, The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath ta- 
ken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. You may 
mark what a note the Spirit of God put upon it ; in all this 
Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly : God accounts it 
a charging him foolishly, when we don't submit unto him 
patiently.' Accordingly he now governed himself as one that 
had attained unto the rule of weeping as if he wept not ; for 
it being the Lord's day, he repaired unto the church in the 



* See Kingsltjy. 76. 

15 



114 

afternoon, as he had been there in the forenoon, though he 
was never Uke to see his dearest son ahve any more in this 
world. And though before the first prayer began, a mes- 
senger came to prevent Mr. Davenport's praying for the sick 
person, who was now dead, yet his affectionate father altered 
not his course, but wrote after the preacher as formerly, and 
when he came home he held on his former methods of di- 
vine worship in his family, not for the excuse of Aaron, omit- 
ting any thing in the service of God. In like sort, when the 
people had been at the solemn interment of this his worthy 
son, he did with a very unpassionate aspect and carriage then 
say, ' Friends, I thank you all for your love and help, and for 
this testimony of respect unto me and mine : the Lord hath 
given, and the Lord hath taken ; blessed be the name of the 
Lord.' Nevertheless, retiring hereupon into the chamber 
where his daughter then lay sick, some tears were observed 
falling from him while he uttered these words, ' There is a 
difference between a sullen silence or a stupid senselessness 
under the hand of God, and a child-like submission there- 
unto.' 

" Thus continually he, for a score of years, was the glory 
and pillar of New Haven colony."* 

When the day arrived for the election of a new Governor, 
Mr. Davenport preached the election sermon from the first 
words in the book of Joshua, "Now after the death of Moses 
the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake 
to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses's minister, saying, Moses, 
my servant is dead, now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, 
thou and all this people." The unanimous choice of the 
electors fell upon Francis Newman, who having been for 
many years Secretary of the colony, and one of the bench of 
Magistrates, had thus stood as a minister to their Moses, and 
had been trained, from his youth up, by the instruction, ex- 
ample, and intimate friendship of that eminent " servant of 
the Lord." His time however, in this office, was less than 

* Magn. II, 27, 21). Some other particulars will be given in the Appendix, 
No. IX. 



115 

two years. At the comt of Magistrates, October 17, 1660, 
the Governor was unable to take his seat ; and the record 
was made, that " By reason of the afflicting hand of God on 
New Haven by much sickness, the Court could not pitch up- 
on a day for public thanksgiving through the colony, for the 
mercies of the year past, and did therefore leave it to the 
elders of the church at New Haven, as God may be pleased to 
remove his hand from the Governor and others, to give notice 
to the rest of the plantations, what day they judge fit for that 
duty, that we may give thanks and rejoice before the Lord to- 
gether." The Governor was soon so far recovered from that 
sickness, that the people " were comforted with his presence 
in the public assembly two Lord's days, and at one meeting 
of the Church on a week day." The day of public thanks- 
giving was appointed ; and on that day also, " he found him- 
self encouraged to come to the public assembly." But that 
day being very cold, and he insisting on being in his place at 
both services, the exposure was too great for him. On the 
morning of the next Lord's day, (Nov. 18, 1660,) when the 
second drum was beating, " his precious soul departed from 
the house of clay, to the souls of just men made perfect." 
His Pastor described him as "a true Nathanael, an Israelite 
indeed," and said of him, " He honored God in his private 
conversation and in his administration of chief magistracy in 
this colony, and God hath given him honor in the hearts of 
his people," "recompensing his faithfulness with his living 
desired and dying lamented."* 

Mr. Davenport was now becoming an old man. Twenty 
two years had passed over him in this country. The men 
of his generation in the ministry, were fast disappearing. 
Hooker of Hartford, Cotton of Boston, Shepard of Cambridge, 
Bulkly of Concord, and others who had been with him the 
greater lights in the New England churches, were gone. 

* Mather, Magn. II, 29. Colony Records. Davenport's Letters. From 
the Town Records, it appears that the town provided Gov. Newman with 
a house which he was to occupy while he continued to be Governor. The 
inventory of his estate amounted to only £430 2s. Id. 



116 

Among those who, hke him, had planted churches in this 
Colony, Prudden of Millbrd had deceased ; Whitfield of 
Guilford had returned to England. Another generation of 
ministers, educated in America, to whom he was as one of 
the ancients, was beginning to occupy the scene of action. 
From this Church, his colleagne in the ministry of the word, 
Hooke, and his helper in government, Robert Newman, had 
both returned to their native country ; and though another 
good man, (the Rev. Nicholas Street,) was helping him in 
the pulpit, the otlice of ruling elder was still vacant, and has 
never since been filled. Nearly every one of those who had 
been originally the most distinguished and valued members 
of his flock, was gone ; and the interests of the community 
were committed to other hands. Yet, though encompassed 
with discouragements, the shadows still lengthening upon 
his path as the sunset of life was approaching, he, like the 
great poet his cotemporary, would not 

" bale a jot 
Of heart or hope, but still bore up, and steered 
Right onward." 

Even in his old age, he was found struggling with imweari- 
able zeal to establish a college in New Haven, " for the good 
of posterity." It was in the year 1660, that he made his 
greatest efforts for this object. Then it was that, reinforced 
with the legacy of Governor Hopkins, he appeared before the 
General Court to lay by his solemn act the foundation of a 
college, and entreated them " not to sufter this gift to be lost 
from the colony, but, as it becometh fathers of the Common- 
wealth, to use all good endeavors to get it into their hands, 
and to assert their right in it for the common good ; that pos- 
terity might reap the good fruit of their labors, and wisdom, 
and faithfulness ; and that Jesus Christ might have the ser- 
vice and honor of such provision made for his people." 

How admirable is that true nobleness of soul which 
studies and labors " for the good of posterity !" How beau- 
tiful in vigorous and ardent youth ! How venerable in old 
age! 



DISCOURSE VII. 



JOHN DAVENPORT IN HIS OLD AGE, THE PROTECTOR OF THE 
REGICIDES, THE OPPONENT OF UNION WITH CONNECTICUT, 
THE CHAMPION OF THE OLD WAY AGAINST THE SYNOD OF 1662. 



Isaiah, xvi, 3, 4. — Take counsel, execute judgment, make thy shadow as the 
night in the midst of tlie noonday; hide the outcasts, bewray not him tliat 
wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee ; Moab, be thou a covert to 
them from the face of tiie spoiler. 

Examining the records of the town, we occasionally find 
Mr. Davenport taking an active part in town meetings. The 
manner in which his name is introduced, is sometimes such 
as implies that he did not ordinarily attend upon such assem- 
blies. Yet whenever any thing was done or proposed res- 
pecting schools for the town, or the setting up of a college, 
we are sure to find that he was present, and had something 
to say in the way of urging forward the cause of education. 
So when any subject was introduced which had an imme- 
diate connection with the interests of religion and of religious 
institutions, we frequently find him engaged in the discus- 
sion. One instance of this may be here introduced, as illus- 
trating his principles and character. 

At a town meeting, — or as it was called in those days, a 
general court for the town, — on the 2Sth of February, 1659, 
a request was made by the farmers of what is now East Ha- 
ven and North Haven, for certain grants of lands and privi- 
leges in order to the establishment of villages, so that they 
maintaining public worship and other town expenses by 
themselves, should not be taxed for such expenses here, and 
should have the power of taxing all the lands within their 
limits whether belonging to themselves or to non-residents. 
Their application was of course resisted on the ground that 
this setting off" of new parishes would increase the town's 
taxes, and would diminish the ability of the people to sup- 



118 

port the ministry here. It was obvious that the inhabitants 
on this side of the river had an immediate pecuniary inter- 
est against the petition. The petitioners seem to have 
thought — reasonably enough — that by having such privileges 
and forming distinct parishes, each with a village at its cen- 
ter, they would not only be relieved from the very serious 
inconvenience of coming into town every Lord's day, and 
every training day or town meeting day ; but would be able 
to give more value to their lands, and to get a more compe- 
tent subsistence. They seem to have considered themselves 
as reduced to the necessity either to give up their scattered 
residences on the farms, and to come into the town and live as 
they might, or else to form themselves into separate villages 
according to their proposal. The proposal seems to have 
been something like an effort on the part of a body of men 
of inferior condition, to obtain such a change as would put 
them more completely on a level with the merchants and 
capitalists in the town. One of the farmers said, " it was 
well known that at the first they were many of ihem looked 
upon as mean men to live by their labor ; therefore they had 
at first small lots given them ; but they finding by experience 
that they could not in that way maintain their families, they 
were put upon looking out." He further argued " that, when 
the town gave them these lots, it was upon condition they 
should inhabit upon them ;" and that having in compliance 
with that condition invested their property there in buildings 
and improvements, they had a right to such additional privi- 
leges as were necessary to their comfortable subsistence. 

On this occasion, Mr. Davenport took the lead in the dis- 
cussion. He addressed the meeting immediately after the 
proposal had been stated ; and in opposition to what most 
would regard as the town's pecuniary interest in the case, in 
opposition to the feeling, how shall the support of the ministry 
here be secured, and in opposition to the natural reluctance 
with which towns as well as individuals give up any particle 
of power, he argued strenuously for the extension of these 
privileges to the farmers. His arguments are so characteris- 



119 

tic, not only of his piety, but of his good sense and of his 
pohtical wisdom, that they are worth repeating at length, as 
we find them on the records. 

" The business they were exercised about, being of great 
weight both for the honor of God and the good of posterity, 
he therefore desired that it might be weightily considered. 

" If we look to God, it is that his kingdom may come and 
be set up among us, and that his will may be done. Nov/ 
if we provide not for the sanctification of the Sabbath, the 
will of God will not be done. The law, he said, was ex- 
pressed Levit. xxiii, 3, ' Six days shall work be done, but 
the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation, 
ye shall do no work therein, it is the Sabbath of the Lord in 
all your dwellings." This law was not proper to the land of 
Canaan, but a brief repetition of the fourth commandment, 
which requires that we should sanctify the Sabbath as a day 
of holy rest. Now in this way of farms at such a distance, it 
cannot be kept as a holy convocation, and as a day of holy 
rest in all our dwellings. Therefore we sJiall live in the 
breach of the fourth commandment in this way. 

"Besides, there are other things to be attended (as they 
ought to be) in a well ordered commonwealth ; particularly, 
to use all due means to prevent sin in others, which cannot 
be done in this way ; for many great abominations may be 
committed, and bring the wrath of God on the plantation ; 
like the secret fact of Achan, — for which, wrath came upon 
the whole congregation of Israel, because they used not what 
means they might to prevent it ; therefore could they not 
prosper when they went against the men of Ai. Therefore, 
would we prosper, let us prevent sin what we can in the 
farms. If they were brought into a village form, there 
might be some officer to look to civil order. But that being 
not done, he saw not but that we are in continued danger of 
the wrath of God, because we do not what we may for the 
prevention of disorders that may fall out there. 

" And besides this, we are to look to the good of posterity. 
Now it is a sad object to consider, how they are deprived of 



120 

the means for the education of then* children. But if they 
were reduced to villages, they might then have one to teach 
their children. 

'• Mr. Davenport farther said, Let there be no divisions or 
contentions among you. But let every one, with some self- 
denial, set himself to further the work so as may be for the 
good both of the town and the farms. He said he sought 
not the destruction of the town or farms. But in his judg- 
ment, he thought, if the town fall into a way of trade, then 
the villages might be helpfid to the town, and the town to 
the villages. And if the town did not consider of some way 
to further trade [that is, not only buying and selling, but the 
production of commodities to be bought and sold,] how they 
would subsist he saw not. He further said, he did like it 
well that there had been some consultations about a mill," — 
which — " if God prosper it, may be a furtherance of trade. 
And if it please God to bless the iron work, that may be also 
a foundation for trade. Now put all these together ; — the 
town falling into a way of trade will be in a better state, and 
the villages accommodated ; and the honor of God in the 
sanctification of the Sabbath and the upholding of civil order 
will be provided for. 

'' Mr. Davenport farther said, that he looked upon it as a 
merciful hand of God that his wrath hath not broke out 
against us more than it hath, when sin hath not been pre- 
vented at the farms as it might have been. Let us now, 
said he, set our thoughts a-work how the kingdom of Christ 
may be settled among us, and that the will of God may be 
done in the sanctification of the Sabbath, by reducing the 
farms into villages. But herein we must go above sense and 
reason. Lay this foundation, Doth God require it ? If he 
doth, then here we must exercise faith ; as the Jews, — how 
they should be supplied, being God had commanded that ev- 
ery seventh year their land should rest, — and for safety, when 
at the commandment of God all their males must thrice in the 
year appear before the Lord at Jerusalem. Yet we must 
make use of reason and understanding that it may be done in 



121 

such a way as may be for the good both of the town and of 
the farms. And the Lord guide you in it." 

By this argument of Mr. Davenport's, the subject was in- 
troduced, and the discussion opened.. All the veneration 
with which the people regarded their pastor did not pre- 
vent the free expression of objections. Among others, 
Sergeant Jefferies, while he professed himself "marvellous 
willing the villages should go on," thought it was " lo be con- 
sidered whether villages will not wrong the town much," and 
suggested, furthermore, <' that the ministry of the colony was 
much unsettled,* which is a great discouragement to such a 
work." " To which Mr. Davenport answered, that Christ 
holds the stars in his right hand, and disposes of them as 
seems good to him. But this we must know, that if we 
obey not the voice of the prophets, God will take away the 
prophets. He further said. If we build God's house, God 
will build our house. He exhorted to consider whether it 
be our duty or not, and said that unless we look upon it as a 
duty, he would never advise to go about villages, nor any 
thing else of that nature." 

All this, I say, shows us the character of the first pastor 
here, and the sort of influence which he exerted in the com- 
munity. His great concern was that Christ's kingdom might 
be set up here, that God's will might be done, and that to 
this all the arrangements of the commonwealth might tend. 
Sin, which when not duly restrained, brings God's wrath up- 
on communities as upon individuals, was that which of all 
things he most feared. To him the good of posterity as de- 
pendent on education, was the greatest of public interests. 
The thought that any of the people were deprived of means 
for the education of their children, affected him with sadness. 
His influence made men feel that the surest way to prosper, 
was to be ever doing God's work, and to have all our inter- 
ests identified with the prosperity of the kingdom of God. 



* This was in Feb., 1659. TUc Cluircli in Milford was then vacant by the 
death of Mr. Pnidden, in 1656. Mr. Higginson left Gnilford in 165'J. 

16 



122 

Yet his piety was not inconsistent with the most sagacious 
pohcy. Even when he would have men " go above sense and 
reason," and " exercise faith," he would nevertheless have 
them " make use of reason and understanding" to ascertain 
and promote the public welfare. His comprehensive mind, 
which his piety enlarged instead of contracting, formed in 
itself the idea which we now behold set forth in the happy 
reality ; a manufacturing and commercial town here ; rural 
municipalities filling the country around ; and town and 
couQtry each free from subjection to the other, yet mutually 
dependent, and ministering to each other's prosperity. 

To the stranger passing through New England, and be- 
coming acquainted with the peculiarities of our social condi- 
tion and of our civil polity, nothing is more striking, or more 
admirable, than the continual succession of villages, each with 
its neat white spire, its school houses, its clusters of com- 
fortable dwellings, its own municipal rights and regulations, 
and each vieing with its neighbor villages in order, thrift, and 
beauty. In other parts of the country, where. New England 
influence not having predominated at the beginning, the 
forms of society are not molded after ours, you see a succes- 
sion of broad farms, with many a pleasing indication of pros- 
perous industry ; but the villages are only at the " county 
seat," or where the exigencies of business create them. 
New England is a land of villages, not of manufacturing 
villages merely, or trading villages, but of villages formed for 
society, villages in each of which the meeting house is the 
acropolis. The reasons of this peculiarity appear from that 
argument of Mr. Davenport's which I have just recited. 
These villages were created — not as many have supposed for 
defense alone, else why did not the same reason cause villa- 
ges in Pennsylvania and Virginia — but first that the worship 
of God might be maintained, and his Sabbaths be duly 
honored ; secondly, that the people might have schools for 
all their children ; thirdly, that they might maintain among 
themselves the most efficient civil order ; and fourthly, that 
instead of living, each planter in solitary independence, they 



123 

might live ill mutual dependence and mutual helpfulness, 
and might thus develop more rapidly and effectually the nat- 
ural resources of the country. 

In the year 1660, when monarchy was restored in Eng- 
land, many who had acted prominently in the revolution 
which had thus suddenly gone backward, were obliged to 
flee for their lives. Some fled to different countries on the 
continent of Europe ; some sought a retreat in the obscurity 
of the American settlements ; and some, not making their 
escape betimes, died by the tortures and hideous mutilations 
which the barbarity of the English law inflicted upon those 
whom it condemned as traitors. Among those who came to 
New England, were three of the men who acted as judges 
in the trial of King Charles I, and who feared not to sign the 
death-warrant of a king found guilty of treason against his 
people. Two of these, Edward Whalley and Wilham Goffe, 
who, in consequence of the rank they had held in tbe armies 
of the Parliament, and in the commonwealth of England, 
were especially obnoxious to the restored king and to his 
triumphant partisans, arrived at Boston on the 27th of July, 
1660, in the same ship which brought the first news of the 
king's restoration. 

Whalley was closely connected with Cromwell by kin- 
dred, as well as by the tie of a common political interest. 
He was the colonel of that regiment of cavalry in the Par- 
liament's army, in which Richard Baxter was chaplain ; and 
between him and the author of the Saint's Rest, there was 
an intimate friendship, not only while Baxter continued in 
the army, but afterwards when Whalley had become, under 
the protectorate of his cousin Cromwell, one of the chief of- 
ficers of the empire. To him, in token of their continued 
friendship, Baxter dedicated one of his works, in an epistle 
which is among the most beautiful examples of tliat kind of 
composition. Alluding to the honors which then clustered 
upon the head of the veteran warrior, he said, " Think not 
that your greatest trials are now over. Prosperity hath its 
peculiar temptations by which it hath foiled many that stood 



124 

unshaken in the storms of adversity. The tempter who hath 
had you on the waves, will now assault you in the calm, and 
hath his last game to play on the mountain till nature cause 
you to descend. Stand this charge, and you win the day."* 
How beautiful the prediction, but how short sighted ! 

GofFe was the son-in-law of Whalley, and like him, hav- 
ing distinguished himself in the army, in which he rose to 
the rank of Major General, he became a member of Crom- 
well's House of Lords, and was one of the principal support- 
ers of the Cromwell dynasty. So eminent was he, that it 
was thought by some that he might in time become the head 
of the empire. 

When these men arrived in Boston with the news of the 
king's restoration, they were at first received with undis- 
guised attention by the Governor of that Colony, and the 
principal inhabitants. For some time they resided openly 
at Cambridge, where they attended public worship, and were 
active in private religious meetings, and were received to oc- 
casional communion in the church by virtue of letters which 
they brought from the churches in England, with which they 
had been previously connected. As they became personally 
known, they were greatly respected for their piety, as well 
as for their talents and intelligence. It was hoped that in 
so distant a part of the world as this, they would escape the 
notice of their enemies ; and the first rumors that followed 
them from England, gave some confirmation to the hope. 
But in November the act of indemnity arrived, which se- 
cured all, with certain exceptions, against being called in 
question for any thing which they had done against the gov- 
ernment since the beginning of the civil wars ] and it ap- 
peared that these two men, with many others, were excepted 
from the general pardon. Still, however, compassion and 
friendship prevented the government of Massachusetts from 
taking any measures to arrest them. On the 22d of Febru- 
ary, 1661, the governor called his council together, to con- 
sult about seizing them ; but the council, not having yet 

* Baxter's Practical Works, (Orrae'sed.) I, 453. 



125 

received any special order on that subject, refused to do any 
thing. Four days after this, the two regicide judges, fore- 
seeing that a warrant, or order for their arrest, must soon 
arrive from England, and that Gov. Endicott and their other 
friends there would in that case be unable to protect them, 
left Cambridge, and passing through Hartford, where they 
were hospitably received by Gov. Winthrop, arrived at 
New Haven on the 7th of March. Almost immediately after 
their leaving Cambridge, and before they had reached this 
place, the king's proclamation, denouncing them as convicted 
traitors, was received at Boston ; and thereupon a warrant 
was issued by the government there, and a search was made 
at Springfield and other places, where they were sure not to 
find them. 

Here the people were prepared to receive them and to 
stand by them. Mr. Davenport in a long series of sermons 
from the words of the prophet in Lam. iii, 24, " The Lord is 
my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him," — 
had been inculcating on his flock the duty and the safety of 
confidence in God ; and having considered that hope in va- 
rious relations, had dwelt particularly on its operation in 
establishing and strengthening the heart against all discoura- 
ging, distrustful fears "of evil times, when all things are 
turned upside down, and the mountains, princes and great 
potentates, render themselves terrible to the Church and peo- 
ple of God, and the profane multitude rage against them like 
the roaring of the waters, and they can have no rest in their 
dwellings." Under this topic, he had exhibited the discour- 
aging aspect of the protestant cause, the cause of truth and 
religion and liberty, as it then was in various parts of Europe, 
touching cautiously but significantly upon the state of affairs 
in their native country, from which tidings more and more 
painful were daily to be expected. 

He had proceeded to teach them more particularly what 
disposition of spirit was necessary to qualify them for the ex- 
ercise of confidence in God amid such fears, and how, by 
what acts and efforts, their hope in God was to manifest itself 



126 

in those days of deep depression. " Whosoever," said he, 
" would have and exercise this hope in reference to the pub- 
lic state of the afflicted churches of Christ ; they must have 
and exercise public spirits in the communion of saints" — 
" must take to heart the public state of the churches and 
Christ's interest in them, whatever their own private condi- 
tion is ; and must prefer the public concernments before and 
above their own private, in their judgments, affections, and 
endeavors." "The saints of old," said he, "could not be 
satisfied with their own private welfare, if the church of 
of God was in affliction and danger, or under reproach." 
" When there hath been a double affliction upon them, both 
public and private, the public hath swallowed up the private, 
and made it inconsiderable in comparison." " When they 
have had a double opportunity of doing or procuring good, 
to the public, and to their own private, they have preferred 
the public advantage to their own private interest." How 
do their examples, said he, " shame most Christians in these 
days, who, if their garners may be full, their sheep multiply, 
their oxen be strong to labor, their sons be as plants grown 
up, and their daughters polished and set forth with ornaments, 
aud there be no complaining in the streets, think themselves 
happy, and regard not what becomes of religion, and of 
Christ's cause and interest in the churches ; they take not to 
heart the afflictions of God's people, if their trading increase ; 
one good bargain will more comfort them than all the calami- 
ties of the church can grieve them ; they can hear and speak 
of the breaches and ruins of Zion, as the Athenians did of 
news, without remorse or regard. Brethren, it is a weighty 
matter to read letters and receive intelligence in them con- 
cerning the state of the Churches. You had need to lift up 
your hearts to God, when you are about to read your letters 
from our native country, to give you wisdom, and hearts duly 
affected, that you may receive such intelligences as you 
ought ; for God looks upon every man, in such cases, with 
a jealous eye. observing with what workings of bowels they 
read or speak of the concernments of his Church." " Christ," 



127 

he said, " will look on them as his enemies that disown his 
cause and people at such times, as he saith, He that is not 
with me is against me. Are the people and ways of God 
under reproach ? Christ is reproached in them and with them. 
Ah ! but they are called fools and fanatics ! I answer, When 
was it otherwise ?" 

Having shown how godliness had been hated and scoffed 
at in other ages, he went on to say, " The present tempta- 
tion of this time, in the otlier afllictions of the Churches, is 
the reproachful titles put upon the people of God, whom pro- 
fane men call fanatics. But if he is a fool that will be 
laughed out of his right, much more is he a fool and a mad 
man that will suffer himself to be laughed out of heaven, that 
will hazard the loss of his soul, and salvation, to free himself 
from the mocks and scoffs of a profane and sinful world. If 
Christ had not for our sakes endured the cross, despising the 
shame, we could never have been redeemed and saved ; ' let 
us go forth therefore to him, without the camp, bearing his 
reproach.' The Christian Hebrews are exhorted to call to 
remembrance the former days in which, after they were illu- 
minated, they endured a great fight of afflictions, partly 
whilst they were made a gazing stock both by reproaches 
and afflictions, and partly whilst they became companions of 
them that were so used. (Hcb. x, 32, 33.) Let us do like- 
wise, and own the reproached and persecuted people and 
cause of Christ in suffering times." 

Kindling as he proceeded, he left his hearers no room to 
misunderstand him. He came out boldly with what might 
have passed in England for treason. " Withhold not coun- 
tenance, entertainment, and protection, from such, if they 
come to us from other countries, as from France or England 
or any other place. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, 
for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Re- 
member them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and 
them who suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the 
body. (Heb. xiii, 2, 3.) The Lord required this of Moab, 
saying, ' Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the 



128 

noon-day ;' — that is, provide safe and comfortable shelter and 
refreshment for my people in the heat of persecution and op- 
position raised against them ; — ' hide the outcasts, bewray not 
him that wandereth : let mine outcasts dwell with thee, 
Moab ; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler.' 
(Isaiah xvi, 3, 4.) Is it objected, But so I may expose my- 
self to be spoiled or troubled ? He, therefore, to remove this 
objection, addeth, ' For the danger is at an end, the spoiler 
ceaseth ; the treaders down are consumed out of the land.' 
While we are attending to our duty in owning and harbor- 
ing Christ's witnesses, God will be providing for their and 
our safety, by destroying those that would destroy his people." 
This Avas certainly intelligible. But he went on to arm 
their minds still more for the expected crisis. " Two helps 
I shall propound to arm you against those fears of reproach, 
or dangers, whereby men are apt to be drawn to flinch from 
the cause and witnesses of Christ in suff"ering times. First, 
strengthen your faith. A sight of the invisible God, and an 
eye to the recompense of reward, so quickened and strength- 
ened the faith of Moses, that ' he chose rather to suffer afflic- 
tion with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of 
sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater 
riches than the treasures of Egypt.' (Heb. xi, 25, 26.)" 
Secondly, " Exalt God as the highest object of your fear. 
Fear God as he ought to be feared — fear him above all. The 
greater fear will expel the lesser. Therefore the Lord pre- 
scribes this fearing him aright, as the best remedy against all 
carnal fears, whereby men are wont to be hindered from obey- 
ing God in those duties that will expose men to hurt from the 
creature. (Isa. viii, 12, 13. li, 7, 8, 12, 13. So doth Christ 
in Mat. x, 28.) The balking of any duty which God com- 
mandeth, is the ready way to bring upon you, by the wrath 
of God, that very evil which you fear that the doing of your 
duty will expose you to by the wrath of men."* 

* Saints' Anchor-Hold, 178 — 201. There can bo no doubt that tliis is the 
original and the truth of the tradition recorded by Stiles, (History of Judges, 



129 

By such appeals and arguments were the people of New 
Haven prepared to receive the regicides with kindness, and 
to protect them in the face of the king's displeasure. The 
regicides themselves had special reasons to expect the most 
friendly treatment here. The sister of Gen. Whalley, Mrs. 
Hooke, had long resided here, her husband being for twelve 
years Mr. Davenport's colleague here in the work of the 
ministry. Mr. William Jones, whose father within a few 
weeks after their departure from England, had suffered death 
for the same act for which they were thus hunted through 
the wilderness, and who having married in London the 
youngest daughter of the late Gov. Eaton, had recently 
come to this country, was here, and ready to show them 
all kindness for his father's sake.* 

At first " the Colonels," as they were commonly called, 
showed themselves here openly as they had done at Boston ; 
so that their persons, their danger, and the part they had 
acted, were well known to the whole community. It was 
reported, that on a training day they said expressly, in the 
presence of the whole military company, that if they could 
have but two hundred men to follovy them, they would not 
fear to stand against all their enemies in Old England, and 
in New, But after some twenty days, the news of the 
king's proclamation against them having arrived, they were 

32,) that "about the time the pursuers came to New Ilaveu, and perhaps a 
little before, and to prepare the minds of the people for their reception, the 
Reverend Mr. Davenport preached publicly from this text, — Isa. xvi, 3, 4. 
Take counsel, execute judgment, make thy shadoto as the night,'" &c. The 
Saints' Anchor-Hold is declared in the title page to have been " preached 
in sundry sermons." Dr. Stiles appears not to have seen the book ; nor do I 
find any allusion to it by others who have touched upon the liistory of the 
regicide Judges. The book was printed at London, in 1661, with a preface 
by William Hooke and Joseph Caryl. It contains 231 pages, small duode- 
cimo. The only copy whicii I have heard of belongs to one of the descend- 
ants of the author, Mrs. Whelpley, and is mutilated with the loss of here 
and there a leaf. If it were perfect, a new edition should be publisiied. 

* Kingsley, 76. The tradition that Mr. Jones came over in the same ship 
with the regicides, is, I suspect, unwarranted. Dr. Stiles says he "came 
over in the fall of 1660." (Stiles, 69.) His name first appears on the to\Vn 
records. Feb. 25, 1661. 

17 



130 

under the necessity of concealing themselves. To do this 
more effectually, they went as far as Milford, and took pains 
to be seen there, as if they were proceeding towards the 
Dntch settlement at Manhadoes ; but immediately returned 
to this place under cover of the night, and were received 
by Mr. Davenport, in whose house they were hid for more 
than a month, when they removed across the street to Gov. 
Eaton's house, then occupied by Mr. Jones. 

Near the last of April, an express mandate from the king, 
was received by the Governor of Massachusetts, requiring 
him to cause the traitors Whalley and Gofie, to be seized. 
The whole country was alarmed ; and Massachusetts, feel- 
ing that she had much to account for in the matter, and that 
her all was in jeopardy, seems now to have been in earnest 
to ay^prehend them, and to make peace by giving them up as 
victims. Accordingly, the Governor and council at Boston, 
gave a commission to two zealous young royalists just from 
England, to go through the colonies, as far as Manhadoes, in 
pursuit of them. 

On the llth of May, these pursuers, Thomas Kellond and 
Thomas Kirk, arrived at the house of Deputy Governor 
Leete in Guilford, who was then acting as chief magistrate 
of the jurisdiction, in consequence of the death of Gov. New- 
man a few months before. Gov. Leete read their letters, 
and the copy which they brought of the king's mandate, but 
showed no great alacrity in promoting their object. He as- 
sured them that he had not seen the men in several weeks, 
and that they were probably gone out of the jurisdiction. 
The next day was the Sabbath ;* and by one hindrance and 
another, the pursuers were detained at Guilford till the morn- 
ing of the 13th, when, at the break of day, they started for 
New Haven, with a letter from Gov. Leete to Mr. Gilbert, the 
magistrate of this place, advising him to call the town court 

* This is a circumstance not mentioned by any of the authorities, but ascer- 
tained by calculation. " The king's business required haste," yet the pur- 
suers, while under Gov. Leete's jurisdiction, must rest on the Sabbath day, 
" according to the commandment." 



131 

together, and by their advice and concurrence to cause a 
search to be made. Early as they started, it appears that 
some one else left Guilford before them, in the night, and 
arrived here in time to give information that they were com- 
ing. They found the magistrate not at home ; but on the 
arrival of the Governor himself some two hours after them, 
with the magistrate of Branford, whom he had brought with 
him, on the principle that in many counsellors there is safety, 
a long consultation was held in the court room. The pur- 
suers insisted that the regicides were hid in some of the 
houses in this town, and that all their information pointed 
particularly to the houses of Mr. Davenport and Mr. Jones ; 
and they demanded of the Governor a warrant to search for 
them. The Governor and magistrates, on the other hand, 
maintained that "the Colonels" had gone towards Manha- 
does ; and in truth, whatever suspicions and fears they might 
have, they knew nothing of their concealment. As for the 
warrant which was demanded, they had constitutional and 
legal scruples ; for Gov. Leete was educated a lawyer. The 
Governor told the two pursuers, that he could not and would 
not make them magistrates of this jurisdiction, as he should 
do if he were to invest them with power to enter men's 
houses and search for criminals. Besides, the king's mandate 
which they brought with them, appeared to be addressed to 
the Governor of Massachusetts as if he were Governor of all 
New England, and to others only as subordinate to him ; and 
the magistrates feared that by acting under such a mandate 
they might acknowledge a governor-general, and might thus 
be guilty of betraying the trust committed to them, under 
oath, by the people, from whom alone they derived their 
power. When the pursuers asked the magistrates whether 
they would honor and obey the king in this aflair, the Gov- 
ernor replied, " We honor his Majesty, bat we have tender 
consciences." When they urged again the same considera- 
tion, and demanded to know whether they would own his 
Majesty or not, the answer was given, that they would first 
know whether his Majesty would own them. So in the 



132 

end, after much consideration and delay, " the case being 
weighty," " it was resolved to call the general court for the 
effectual carrying on of the work." Meanwhile the gentlemen 
from England were urged not to retard their own business 
by waiting on the proceedings of the authorities of the juris- 
diction ; — a suggestion which implied that if they had a 
commission from the king which gave them the power of 
searching, they might proceed to execute it at their own risk ; 
and that if their commission was not sufficient for such pur- 
pose, they had better go where their commission carried 
them. 

The pursuers accordingly made such search as they dared 
to make in the circumstances ; they obtained full proof that 
the regicides had been seen at Mr. Davenport's ; they offered 
great reward to Indians and Englishmen for such information 
and aid as should enable them to accomplish their object ; 
they threatened Mr. Davenport with the well known penal- 
ties of the law for concealing and comforting traitors ; but 
they were unsuccessful ; and after a day or two they went 
on towards the Hudson river, and thence returned by water 
to Boston. On the 17th of May, which was only two or 
three days after their departure, the general court assembled ; 
and after expressing many " wishes that a search had been 
sooner made," gave order " that the magistrates take care 
and send forth the warrant, that a speedy, diligent search be 
made throughout the jurisdiction," and "that from the sev- 
eral plantations a return be made that it may be recorded." 
The order was carried into effect ; a search was made 
throughout the colony, but the fugitives were not found. 

Meanwhile the hunted men were at various places in the 
immediate vicinity of New Haven. On the day on which 
the pursuers arrived at Guilford, (May 11,) they left their con- 
cealment at the house of Mr. Jones, and found refuge during 
the Sabbath in the mill near West Rock ;* thence on the 
13th, the day on which the pursuers came to New Haven, 

* The site of that mill is now occupied by the Manufactory of Blake & 
Brothers. 



133 

they went into the woods, and were conducted by some 
trusty friends to a hiding place now inckided within the 
bounds of Woodbridge, which afforded them lodgings for 
two nights. On the 15th of May they removed to the cave 
on the side of West Rock, which was their residence till the 
11th of June, while the whole colony was searched to find 
them. They were informed of all that was doing ; they 
stood ready to surrender themselves rather than that any 
body should suffer on their account ; and at last, knowing 
Mr. Davenport's danger, they left their refuge and came into 
town to deliver themselves up to the authorities here. They 
ventured to be seen here so publicly, as to clear Mr. Daven- 
port from the suspicion of still concealing them. They 
caused information to be conveyed in some way to Gov, 
Leete, that they were ready to surrender if it was necessary, 
but he did nothing towards commencing such a treaty ; and 
the next day they were informed by some of their friends, 
that there was no occasion for so desperate a measure. After 
this, they retired again to their cave, and continued there and 
in similar places till the 19th of August, when, it being gen- 
erally supposed that they had made their escape to parts un- 
known, they came into the center of Milford, and obtained a 
lodging place in a house there, in which they continued in the 
most perfect seclusion for several years. In October, 1664, 
they removed to Hadley, in Massachusetts, where the minister 
of the place, Mr. Russell, had made arrangements to receive 
them ; and under his roof they rested for the remainder of 
their days. 

I have repeated these details, because they illustrate the 
character generally of the first colonists of New Haven, and 
especially because they show in so striking a light the char- 
acter of Mr. Davenport. I know not what incident in history 
exhibits a more admirable combination of courage and adroit- 
ness, of fidelity to friendship, of magnanimity in distress, and 
of the fearless yet discreet assertion of great principles of lib- 
erty, than can be found in this simple story of the protection 
of the regicides by the men of New Haven. And what gives 



134 

to all the rest a higher dignity, is the fact that the courage 
which feared not the wrath of the king, was not fool-hardi- 
ness or passion, but faith in God who bade them hide the 
outcasts, and be a covert to them from the face of the spoiler. 
The rude munition of rocks that sheltered the fugitives when 
they were chased into dens and caves of the earth, is a mon- 
ument more eloquent than arch or obelisk. Till the moun- 
tains shall melt, let it bear the inscription, " Opposition to 
tyrants is obedience to God."* 

In the year 1662, the people of Connecticut obtained from 
King diaries II, by the agency of their Governor Winthrop, 
a charter with the amplest privileges, which was designed 
to comprehend that colony and New Haven under one juris- 
diction. In the negotiations which followed, Mr. Davenport, 
contrary to his ordinary practice, took a leading part. He 
was strongly and conscientiously opposed to the union with 
Connecticut. He believed that the constitution of the civil 
state here, was more according to the mind of God, and bet- 
ter adapted to the great ends of government than any other 
in the world ; and he thought that the constitution provided 
by the Connecticut charter contained no sufficient safeguard 
for the liberty and purity of the churches. Fearing such an 
arrangement, he had obtained from Gov. Winthrop before he 
sailed to procure the charter, a promise that New Haven 
should not be included contrary to the wishes of its people. 
The Connecticut people, however, immediately on receiv- 
ing the charter which Gov. Winthrop sent them, took meas- 
ures, some of them altogether unjustifiable, to bring the New 
Haven colony under their jurisdiction. New Haven entered 
into the conflict under serious disadvantages ; for even before 

* The story of the regicide judges is given by Hutchinson, (I, 213J witli 
documents, (III, 334, 338, 344, 432.) Stiles has added tlie records and tradi- 
tions of New Haven. His autJiorities are wortii more than liis reasonings. 
Some other documents are found in HI Mass. Hist. Coll. vii, 123. When- 
ever the life of Gov. Leete shall be written, a letter from John Norton to 
Richard Baxter should be consulted, in Reliquia; Baxterianae, Part H, 292. 

The inscription cited above, was placed upon the " Judges' cave," by a 
modern hand. 



135 

the coming over of the charter, there existed in this colony, 
and particularly in the remote towns, a party violent in opposi- 
tion to the government here established. 

The first distinct intimation of the approaching crisis, was 
in May, 1662, when the legislature, " not knowing what im- 
portant affairs may happen respecting this colony between 
the session of this and the next general court," voted that if 
any thing extraordinary should arise, " the C4overnor being 
immediately informed thereof, should repair to New Haven, 
and there consult and advise with the magistrates and elders 
of that place and of Branford what is fit and safe to be done 
in such an exigency," calling in if necessary the magistrates 
of Milford, or of any other town. The Governor, with the 
magistrates thus convened, were empowered to act according 
to the exigency, " upon the concurrent advice of two or more 
of the elders," provided they " proceed not to treat or con- 
clude any thing that may have tendency to change of 
the present government, without a General Court be first 
called." 

Before the session of the Court of Magistrates in the Octo- 
ber following, the expected charter of Connecticut had arri- 
ved ; and when the Court, according to usage, appointed the 
23d of the month as a day of public thanksgiving for the 
mercies of the year, it was also ordered " that the 29th of this 
month be kept as a day of extraordinary seeking of God by 
fasting and prayer for his guidance of the colony in this 
weighty business about joining with Connecticut colony, and 
for the afiiicted state of the Church and people of God in 
our native country and in other parts of the world." 

Two days after that day of fasting, the records of the 
town show us a meeting of the freemen at which a copy of 
the charter was exhibited, together with a writing from some 
gentlemen of Connecticut, signifying that they looked upon 
New Haven as being within their bounds. Mr. Davenport, 
and his colleague Mr. Street, were both present. Mr. Dav- 
enport appears to have addressed the meeting at great length. 
He stated some important facts, illustrating the haste, unkind- 



136 

ness, and arrogance, with which their brethren of the other 
colony had proceeded in the matter. He showed what 
pledges he had received from Mr. Winthrop, that so unright- 
eous an act should not be attempted. He went into an ar- 
gument to prove, first, that New Haven was not of course in- 
cluded under the charter, and secondly, that New Haven ought 
not voluntarily to enter into such a union ; and he concluded 
by giving directions as to the answer that should be returned 
to the men of Connecticut, " that they may see their evil in 
what they have done, and restore us to our former state, that 
so we and they may live together in unity and amity for the 
future." Mr. Street followed in the debate ; he declared that 
he looked upon Mr. Davenport's arguments as unanswerable ; 
he thought " that both Church and town had cause to bless 
God for the wisdom held forth in them ;" he exhorted the 
freemen " to keep the ends and rules of Christ in their eye, 
and then God would stand by them ;" and he concluded by 
seconding Mr. Davenport's directions respecting an answer, 
" with one scripture out of Isaiah xiv, 32, [What shall one 
then answer the messengers of the nation ? — that the Lord 
hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in 
it ;] and from thence did advise that the answer should be of 
faith and not of fear." The decision of the meeting, after a 
full debate, was in accordance with the advice thus given. 

Four days afterwards, the freemen of the Avhole colony 
were convened at New Haven, not by delegation, but in full 
assembly. To that convention, Gov. Leete submitted the 
communication which had been received from Connecticut, 
and the brief reply which had been made by the committee 
appointed by the last General Court. These writings hav- 
ing been read, together with the copy of the charter, the 
Governor called the attention of the meeting to the two dis- 
tinct points which the communication from Connecticut pre- 
sented for their consideration, namely, the claim that the 
charter necessarily included them and that they were there- 
fore bound to submit, and the invitation to a voluntary and 
peaceful union. After this, that the people might have time 



137 

for consideration, the assembly was dismissed for an hour and 
a half, " then to meet again at the beat of the drum." When 
the meeting was again opened, Mr. Davenport was called 
upon by the Governor to express his views. Mr. Davenport 
" said that, according to this occasion, he should discharge 
the duty of his place," and proposed to " read to them his 
own thoughts, which he had set down in writing, and which 
he desired might remain his own till they [the freemen of 
the colony,] should be fully satisfied in them ;" for he would 
leave others to walk according tfc the light which God should 
give them in this business." Accordingly he read some rea- 
sons why the people of Connecticut ought not to construe 
their charter as including New Haven colony, and why New 
Haven might not voluntarily join with Connecticut, — and 
then retired, leaving his written thoughts for the considera- 
tion of the assembly. The Governor carefully abstained 
from giving any opinion ; but urged the freemen to speak 
their minds, that the substance of the answer might proceed 
from them. After the matter had been "largely debated," 
the substance of the answer was agreed upon ; and it was 
determined that the points of the reply should be, first, a 
"due witness-bearing against the sin"' of Connecticut in in- 
vading their independence ; next, a demand that till Mr. 
Winthrop should return, or till they should otherwise obtain 
satisfaction, the whole matter should be deferred, and the 
jurisdiction of New Haven be permitted to proceed without 
interruption ; and thirdly, a resolution to do nothing without 
taking advice from the other confederated colonies. A com- 
mittee including all the magistrates and elders was appointed 
to prepare such an answer, and to forward it to the authori- 
ties of Connecticut. The " answer of the freemen, drawn 
up into form by the committee,"* bears strong marks of the 
workmanship of Mr. Davenport. 

The correspondence thus begun between the two colonies 
was continued through several years, while Connecticut was 

* Tlic ruadcr will find it in Truinhull, 1,51-"). 

18 



138 

gaming strength by steady encroachment, and New Haven, 
at first the weaker party, was gradually weakened by defec- 
tions, and by the increasing burthens which the controversy 
occasioned. The great body of the people here loved their 
independence and their own peculiar polity. The ends for 
which, said they, " we left our dear native country, and were 
willing to undergo the difficulties which we have since met 
with in this wilderness, yet fresh in our remembrance," were 
" to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to 
enjoy the liberties of the gospel in purity with peace ;" and 
these are "the only ends we still pursue, having hitherto 
found by experience so much of the presence of God with 
us, and of his goodness and compassion towards us in so 
doing, for these many years." To these ends their peculiar 
institutions seemed in their judgment best adapted. To 
them their little republic seemed as near a perfect model of a 
Christian commonwealth, as could be in this world of imper- 
fection. Cato in his "little senate" at Utica, standing against 
the power of Ca3sar, for the ancient constitution of his coun- 
try, was actuated by no sentiment higher or more admirable 
than that which actuated them. In all the negotiations of that 
crisis the influence of Mr. Davenport is conspicuous. The 
numerous letters and remonstrances in which the claims of 
New Haven were argued, bear the stamp of his mind. Their 
clearness in the statement of the case, their cogency in the 
argument, their dignity of manner, with slight occasional 
manifestations of sarcastic humor, and the simple piety that 
breathes so naturally through them all, indicate him as the 
author.* 

It was not till January 5th, 1665, that this controversy was 
concluded by the unanimous submission of New Haven to 
the claims of Connecticut. This result was brought about 



• These papers were published by Trumbull, with only one exception. 
The one which Trumbull did not publish will be found (what remains of it) 
in the Appendix, No. X. The venerable historian has given the story of the 
extinction of the New Haven colony with much accuracy and particularity. 
Trumb. I,ch. 12. 



139 

by a new danger, which was beginning to threaten the com- 
mon interests of New England. The king had undertaken 
to erect provinces in New England for his brother, the Duke 
of York, and had given him, besides other territories, Long 
Island, and all the land from the west side of Connecticut 
river to the east side of Delaware Bay. A naval and mili- 
tary force was sent over to subdue the Dutch settlements ; 
and with that force came four commissioners, one of them a 
papist, and another an old and bitter enemy of New Eng- 
land, clothed with extraordinary powers, to visit the several 
colonies, to hear and determine all matters of complaint and 
controversy among them, and to settle the country in peace. 
Before such a court, if New Haven should plead for exemp- 
tion from the jurisdiction of Connecticut, it would probably 
have no better effect than to aid in subjecting them to the 
arbitrary government of the Duke of York. They saw that 
farther resistance, if not absolutely hopeless, would jeopard 
not only their own interests, but the common interests of all 
the colonies, and the interests of truth and liberty. Some, 
even in the face of this danger, thought at first, " that to 
stand as God hath kept us hitherto is our best way ;" but 
they had too much wisdom to maintain the conflict in obsti- 
nacy or passion. Mr. Davenport himself, though probably as 
much averse to the measure as any other person, appears to 
have yielded to the necessity, and was one of the committee 
for consummating the union. 

The principal reason of Mr. Davenport's strenuous and pro- 
tracted opposition to this union, was, his expectation that it 
would have an unfavorable bearing on the purity of the 
Churches, and thus on the prosperity of religion. In the 
Connecticut colony the Churches had always been more sub- 
ject to legislative intermeddling than in New Haven. In 
that colony, too, as in Massachusetts, there was a growing 
party which demanded a new standard of qualifications for 
admission to church membership. The demand was that all 
baptized persons not positively scandalous in their lives, 
should be recognized as church members, and that their 



140 

children in turn should be admitted to baptism. The synod 
from Connecticut and Massachusetts, in 1657, against which 
New Haven had remonstrated beforehand, agreed upon such 
answers to the questions submitted to them, as accorded with 
the views of the innovating party ; but the opinions of that 
council seem to have had little immediate effect on the prac- 
tice of the Churches. In 1662, at the time when Connecti- 
cut was beginning to set up her claim of jurisdiction over 
New Haven, another synod of the ministers in Massachu- 
setts, with delegates from the Churches, was held at Boston. 
There, as in the preceding synod, the principle prevailed, 
that all baptized persons not convicted of scandalous actions, 
are so far church members, that upon acknowledging their 
baptismal covenant, and promising an outward conformity to 
it, though without any pretension to inward and spiritual re- 
ligion, they may present their children for baptism. Thence- 
forward the " halfway covenant," as it was afterwards called, 
began to be practiced in the Churches. 

Against this innovation Mr. Davenport stood in determined 
opposition. He of course was not a member of the synod ; 
but he sent his written opinion, which, though the synod 
refused to hear it read, was "generally transcribed" and put 
within the reach of the members. His testimony, too, and 
that of his colleague, against the decision of the synod, was 
given in to the General Court of Massachusetts, with a pre- 
face signed by several ministers, who were of the minority 
in the synod, and who declared their full concurrence with 
Mr. Davenport. In the ensuing controversy he took a lead- 
ing part. Soon after the result of the synod had been given 
to the world, he published an elaborate reply, which was ac- 
companied with a long argumentative preface by Increase 
Mather, then a young man, and with a brief appendix from 
the pen of Mr. Street, the teacher of this Church. Mr. 
Chauncey, the President of Harvard College, also published 
a reply to the synod, in the name of the minority who had 
dissented from the conclusions of that body. President 
Chauncey was answered by Mr. Allen, pastor of the Church 



i 



141 

in Dedham ; Mr. Davenport by Richard Mather, of Dorches- 
ter. The controversy between the " Synodists" and the 
'^ Anti-synodists" divided the whole country. The question 
was indirectly a question of politics no less than of ecclesi- 
astical order ; for in Massachusetts, as well as in New Haven, 
the question who should be church members, involved the 
question who should partake of the right of suffrage. To 
Davenport, " gospel rules and patterns" were the pole-star, 
'' from which," said he, " the compass of the last synod's 
conclusions seems to be varied by some degrees towards the 
antarctic."* The synod prevailed ; but Davenport was right. 
The decay of piety which he prognosticated, as the result of 
halfway covenanting, soon began to be more and more visi- 
ble. The Churches became gradually more and more a part 
of the civil constitution ; and the effects of a union of Church 
and State were continually more developed. 

While this controversy was in progress, the First Church 
in Boston was bereaved of both its ministers. John Norton, 
who had succeeded John Cotton in the office of teacher, died 
suddenly, April 5, 1663 ; and to his place the celebrated 
John Owen was invited from England, and was on the point 
of coming, but was discouraged by the measures which were 
then in progress to extinguish the liberties of New En gland, f 
John Wilson, who had been pastor of that Church from the 
date of its organization in 1630, died August 7, 1667 ; and 
thus that most considerable and influential of the New Eng- 
land Churches was, for the first time, left without a minis- 
ter. Many of the members thought that for such a Church, 
no young minister, and no minister educated in this country, 
could be a fit pastor. The eyes of the majority were turned 
towards Mr. Davenport, as by far the most distinguished of 
the surviving fathers of New England ; and accordingly he 
was invited to that station, on the 24th of September, 1667, 

* Hutcliinson, 111,393. For the history of the synod, and of Mr. Daven- 
port's connection with it, see Hubbard, 587; Mather, Magn. V, C2, 77; 
Hutch. I, 223. 

t Hutchinson, I, 22G. 



142 

and a committee was appointed to convey letters to him and 
to his Church. 

Against this movement on the part of the First Church in 
Boston, there was, within that Church, a strong opposition. 
Wilson and Norton had both been leading '' Synodists ;" and 
by their influence the Church had been brought to adopt in 
practice the decision of the synod. The giving of this call 
to Davenport, the greatest of the " Anti-synodists," was a 
triumph of the party which in that Church had been the mi- 
nority ; and such a triumph would naturally have a great 
effect upon other Churches, and upon the politics of the col- 
ony as affected by the chief ecclesiastical question of the 
day. Opposition on such grounds, though exhibited in the 
formal " dissent" of " thirty brethren," among whom were 
many of the principal members " of that eminent Church," 
had of course no effect to discourage so strenuous an opposer 
of the new practice from accepting the call. 

The messengers and letters from Boston, found here a 
much more unwilling reception from the Church than from 
the pastor. Mr. Davenport was beforehand inclined to a re- 
moval. The independent jurisdiction of his own colony had 
been extinguished. The principle that the trust of govern- 
ment and of electing magistrates, should be committed to 
none but members of the Churches, — for which he had so 
strenuously contended, and which he regarded as the only 
full security for the peaceable enjoyment of the gospel with 
its ordinances, — was here given up. " In New Haven col- 
ony," as he expressed himself, " Christ's interest was mise- 
rably lost."* Besides, the great ecclesiastical controversy of 
the day was to be carried on and decided in Massachusetts ; 
and there, his personal influence would bear upon the contro- 
versy far more efficiently than if he continued here. Under 
the influence of such considerations, he determined on re- 
moving, notwithstanding his attachment to his people, and 
their unwillingness to part with him. 

* Hutchinson, III, 395. 



143 

This Church refused to accept his resignatiou, or in any 
way to consent to his removal. The utmost to which they 
could be brought by his persuasions, as well as the entreaties 
of the Church in Boston, was, that if he was determined to 
go, they would no longer oppose his determination, though 
they still refused to take the responsibility of consenting. 
Upon this he considered himself at hbcrty to act according 
to his own judgment ; and in 1668, probably in the month 
of April,* just thirty years after the commencement of 
his ministry here, he removed to Boston with his family. 
He and his son, with their wives, were received into the 
Church at Boston, on the 11th of October,! and his ordina- 
tion as pastor there, — or, as we should say, his installa- 
tion, — took place on the 9th of December.^ 

His removal in such circumstances occasioned much diffi- 
culty. The minority of the Church in Boston charged him 
and the other elders with equivocation, because they com- 
municated to the Church only those parts of the letters from 
New Haven, which seemed to imply a dismission, whereas 
it was maintained that if the Avhole had been read, it would 
have appeared that there was no dismission. Several letters 
were written, and messengers were sent from that Church to 
this, in the hope of prevailing on this Church " to declare 
their owning of the letter sent from them to be a true dis- 
mission of Mr. Davenport." Of that correspondence nothing 
remains but a fragment of one of the letters from this 
Church. That fragment is so full of rev^erent affection to- 
wards their pastor, even after he had torn himself away from 
them, and breathes so much of the Christian spirit, that it is 
well worthy of preservation. " Though you," say they, 
"judge it the last expedient for your relief, and the remedy 



* A deed executed by Mr. Davenport, as trustee of Gov. Hopkins's 
estate, bears date 18th April, 1668. In this deed he describes himself as 
pastor of the Church in New Haven ; yet it was executed with the obvious 
design of leaving New Haven. 

t Records of First Church in Boston. 

I Emerson's Hist, of First Cliurch in Boston, 110. 



144 

of some evils growing in the country, as also we might do 
the same, if we had nothing before our eyes but his accom- 
plishments and fitness for high service to God in his Church ; 
but being so much in the dark about his way in leaving this 
Church and joining to yours, that we are not without doubts 
and fears of some uncomfortable issue, we therefore cannot 
clearly act in such a way as is expected and desired. We are 
of the same mind as when we returned an answer to your 
first letter, thus expressing ourselves : — We see no cause nor 
call of God to resign our reverend pastor to the Church of 
Boston by any immediate act of ours, therefore not by a for- 
mal dismission under our hands. It is our great grief and sore 
affliction, that we cannot do for him, whom we so highly es- 
teem in love for his work's sake and profitable labors among 
us, what is desired, without wrong to our consciences. Any 
thing that we have or are, beside our consciences, we are 
ready to lay down at his feet. Such is our honorable re- 
spect to him, our love to peace, our desire of your supply, 
that we shall go as far as we safely can in order to his and 
your satisfaction in this matter, having before us for our war- 
rant, Acts xxi, 14, ' When he would not be persuaded, we 
ceased, saying. The will of the Lord be done.' Therefore, 
to suppress what we could say touching that passage in our 
first letter whereof such hold hath been taken, and what we 
have said in our last letter to you, of our reverend pastor's 
making null the liberty before granted, which we doubt not 
we are able clearly to demostrate, yet if this will satisfy, 
(but not otherwise,) we are content to wave and bury in si- 
lence, and leave both yourselves and him to make what im- 
provement you see cause (without any clog or impediment 
from us upon that account) of the liberty before mentioned." 
" As he hath been a faithful laborer in God's vineyard at 
New Haven for many years, to the bringing home of many 
souls to God, and building up of many others ; so it is and 
shall be our prayer to God to lengthen his life and tranquillity 
in Boston, to double his Spirit upon him, assist him in his 
work, and make him a blessed instrument of much good to 



145 

yourselves and many others. The good Lord pardon, on all 
hands, what he hath seen amiss in these actings and motions, 
that no sinful malignity may obstruct or hinder God's bless- 
ing upon Churches or Church administrations. As himself 
and his son have desired, we do dismiss unto your holy fel- 
lowship Mr. John Davenport, Junr., and Mrs. Davenport 
elder and younger, desiring you to receive them in the Lord 
as becometh saints, and imploring Almighty God for his 
blessing upon them from his holy ordinances in their com- 
munion and walking with you. The God of all grace sup- 
ply all your and our need, according to his riches in glory 
through Jesus Christ. Thus craving your prayers for us in 
our afflicted condition, we take our leave, and rest yours in 

the fellowship of the gospel. 

Nicholas Street, 

in the name and with the consent of the 
Church of Christ at New Haven. "^ 

Mr. Davenport was, at this time, more than seventy years 
of age. What minister so far advanced in life, would now 
be called from one Church to another, because of the emi- 
nency of his qualifications for usefulness ? When was there 
ever another such instance of competition and controversy 
between Churches, for the enjoyment of the ministry of one 
who, always an invalid, had numbered more than three-score 
years and ten ? How rarely can you find a Church who, 
when a minister has torn himself away from them, retain 
for him so strong and reverent an affection ? 

Those in the Church at Boston, who had protested against 
the call given to Mr. Davenport, were inflexible in their op- 
position. Having applied in vain for a dismission, they sece- 
ded, and formed a new Church, now known as the "Old 
South Church in Boston." A new impulse was thus given 
to the controversy then in progress. The two Churches, 



*Wisner, Hist, of Old South Church in Boston, 74. The date of the letter, 
of which these fragments were found among the papers of tlic Old Soutii 
Church, was "12,8, 68," i. e. 12, Oct. 1668. 

TO 



146 

the First and the South, had no mutual communion, and 
the whole colony of Massachusetts took sides with one or 
the other. The questions about the recommendations of the 
synod, had become involved with, and in a measure super- 
seded by, questions about the conduct of Mr, Davenport and 
the old Church on the one hand, and the proceedings of the 
new Church and its adherents on the other.* It is not strange 
then that under his short ministry in Boston, there were no 
large additions to the Church.f Nor did he succeed in ar- 
resting the progress of the innovation which he so greatly 
feared. The " half-way covenant" system prevailed in the 
Churches of New England for more than a century ; and it 
is only within some forty years past, that the views of which 
Davenport was the champion in 1662, have triumphed. 

This distinguished man died, suddenly, on the 11th of 
March, 1670 ; and was buried in the tomb of his friend 
John Cotton. I Much of his character has been exhibited in 
the details of his life, which have been given ; but before we 
take our leave of him, it may be useful to notice a few traits 
more particularly. 

From his early youth to his death, he was devoted to 
study. Those lucubrations of his, which in London were 
protracted into the late hours of the night, were not discon- 
tinued when he had removed into a deeper wilderness than 
that which is now spread around the base of the Rocky 
Mountains, Here he was " almost continually in his study 
and family, except some public work or private duty called 
him forth ;"'^ and ''he was so close and bent a student that 
the rude pagans themselves took much notice of it, and the 
Indian savages in the neighborhood would call him, So big 
studyman.''^\\ 

* Hubbard, 602. Mather, V, 82. Hutch. I, 270. Wisner, Hist, of Old 
South Church, 6 and 69. This is one of the most valuable of the contribu- 
tions to the ecclesiastical history of New England. 

t Emerson, History of First Church, Boston, 112. 

t Ibid. 120. Mather, III 56. The tomb of Cotton and Davenport is in the 
Stone Chape! burial-ground. 

§ Church Records. 1| Mather, Magn. HI, 56. 



147 

The fruit of his studies was manifest in his sermons, and 
in his pubhshed works. He was eminently famihar with 
the Scriptures, which he often quoted in the original tongues, 
for the sake of exhibiting some delicate shade of meaning, 
invisible in the translation. His skill in evolving from the 
Scriptures not merely their historical or grammatical signifi- 
cation, but those " uses" of " doctrine, reproof, correction, and 
instruction in righteousness," for which "all Scripture is pro- 
fitable," showed that his studies brought him into commun- 
ion, not with the letter only, but with the living Spirit. He 
was a true master of the art of logic, as it was taught in 
those days, an art in the practice of which the mind was 
trained to the power of acute discrimination and analysis. 
Instead of being — as his weaker cotemporaries were prone to 
be — a slave to the technicalities of the art, he used them as 
easily as an expert workman uses the tools of his trade. 
None in a debate could better state the point in question ; 
none could detect more promptly, or expose more strikingly, 
the fallacious statements, or the inconclusive arguments of 
an opponent. His various stores of knowledge afforded him 
at need, those ready and lively illustrations which are often 
more eftective than dry argument can be. Some specimens 
of a work in Latin from his pen, show that he used that lan- 
guage, not as many theologians have used it, with barbarous 
idioms, but with a degree of gracefulness and elegance.* 

I cannot but conceive of him as characterized by great dig- 
nity of manners, combined — ^as true dignity must ever be — 
with courtesy. " He had been acquainted with great men, 
and great things^" he had seen the world in all its phases ; 

* Mather (Magn. Ill, 54,) gives several passages from a letter to Durj', the 
Peace-maker, written by Davenport and subscribed by all the ministers in the 
colony. The entire letter I have not seen. One passage is worth transcri- 
bing, and if all our wrangling Doctors had Latin enough to understand it, and 
grace enough to act accordingly, it would be better for the Churches. 

" Sincere de erroribus judicare, et errores tamen in fratribus infirmis tole- 
rare, utrumque judicamus esse Apostolicae doctrinse consonum. Toleratio 
veto fratrum infirmornm, non debet esse absque redarguatione, scd tanfum 
absque rcjectione." 



148 

and he appears to liave been always treated with that respect 
which is not often withheld from those in whom the honest 
self-respect from which proceeds true dignity of manners, is 
mingled with the kindness which is the soul of courtesy.* 

His sermons, as he prepared them for the pulpit, appear to 
have been, not discourses fully written out, after the manner 
now adopted by the most accomplished New England 
preachers, but outlines with somewhat extended sketches of 
the leading topics, to be completed and enlivened by the 
freedom and fire of extemporaneous utterance. Hence we 
can only v^ery imperfectly judge of his power in the pulpit by 
any specimens of his preaching which have come down to us. 
That there was life and force in his discourses, may be seen 
on almost any page of his '' Saints' Anchor-hold." But the 
testimony of his cotemporaries, is all that we have to tell us 
of what he actually was in the pulpit. One who was long 
acquainted with his reputation, and who after his removal to 
Boston must have often seen him, says : He was " a person 
beyond exception and compare, for all ministerial abilities ;" 
and that even in his latest years, " he was of that vivacity, 
that the strength of his memory, profoundness of his judg- 
ment, floridness of his elocution, were little, if at all, abated 
in him."t Another, who in his youth was the particular 
friend of Davenport the aged, says, "He was a princely 
preacher. I have heard some say, who knew him in his 
younger years, that he was then very fervent and vehement 
as to the manner of his delivery, but in his later years he 
did very much imitate Mr. Cotton, whom, in the gravity of 

* I find on the Colony Records, an expression of Mr. Davenport's, which 
seems to me sufficiently characteristic to deserve a place here. In the trial 
of a case of defamation, " Thomas Staplics, of Fairfield, plaintiff, Mr. Roger 
Ludlow, late of Fairfield, defendant," 29 May, 1654, Mr. and Mrs. Davenport 
were called by the plaintiff" to testify to a conversation at their house, between 
them and the defendant. In regard to that conversation, Mr. Ludlow asser- 
ted "that he required and they promised secresy;" — to which Mr. Daven- 
port replied, that " he is careful not to make unlawful promises, and wlien 
lie hath made a lawful promise, he is, through the help of Christ, careful to 
keep it." 

t Hubbard, G02, COS. 



140 

his countenance he did somewhat resemble. Sic ille manus, 
sic ora ferehaty* 

Let us call up the shade of our ancient prophet. I see him 
rising in his pulpit. The folds of his gown conceal, in part, 
the slenderness of his figure, worn thin with years of infir- 
mity. The broad white bands falling upon his breast, starched 
and smooth, — the black round cap, from beneath which a 
few snowy locks show themselves, — the round face and del- 
icate features, which, but for the short white beard, might 
seem almost feminine, — the dark bright eye, which shows 
that age has not yet dimmed the fire within, — complete the 
venerable image. Every eye is fixed upon him. He names 
his text. As he reads it, all rise to show their reverence for 
the '- Scripture breathed of God." After they have been 
seated again, he proceeds. He unfolds his text historically 
and critically. He raises from it some one point of " doc- 
trine." He '' proves" that doctrine by an induction of in- 
stances from Scripture, or by the accumulation of proof-texts. 
He illustrates it, shows its connections with other truths, and 
justifies it to the understanding, by "reasons" drawn from 
the nature of things, and evolving the philosophy of the 
subject. He closes and applies his discourse with " uses," 
or inferences, drawn from his doctrine for " instruction," or 
"comfort," or "admonition," or "exhortation," till the last 
sands are falling in the hour glass. Meanwhile the listening 
congregation knows no weariness. The weighty thought, 
the cogent argument, the flashing illustration, the strong ap- 
peal to affection or to hope, the pungent application, the flow 
of soul in the fervent yet dignified utterance, — keep fast hold 
on their attention. " They sit under the shadow of his doc- 
trine as it were with great delight, and find the fruit thereof 
sweet to their taste. "f 

If we turn from the survey of his talents and accomplish- 
ments, his studies and performances, to look upon his heart 
in its moral affections and habits, it is not enough to say that 
he was a man of eminent piety. His religious character was 



* Increase Matlicr, Magn. Ill, 10. 1 Hubbard, G03. 



no 

marked with some lineaments particularly worthy of obser- 
vation. 

Nothing is more manifest in his writings, or in his life, than 
that he had a strong sense of duty. There is no element of 
human nature more exalted than that instinctive recognition 
of the force of obligation, which no depravity can entirely 
extinguish, but which rises to its just ascendency over infe- 
rior sensibilities only as it is quickened by the Spirit of God. 
The sentiment which sees good, even the highest good, and 
beauty, even the most glorious beauty, in doing right — that 
sentiment controUing the will, and shedding its sanctity over 
the thoughts and affections, is the image, and in a sense 
the presence, of God in the soul of man. This is what we 
mean by the sense of duty. It was strong in the heart of 
our first pastor. When he had clearly proved, in respect to 
any matter, what was duty — what was the application of the 
rules of righteousness — what God required — there was to 
him the end of the argument. " Lay this foundation," said 
he, " doth God require it ?" 

Nearly related to this sentiment was his confidence in God. 
Confidence in God cannot be, where there is no controlling 
sense of duty ; he who lives for selfish ends cannot trust the 
providence of God, for God's ends and his are not coincident. 
So on the other hand, where the sentiment of confidence in 
Him who sways the destinies of all, is weak, there the sen- 
timent of duty is weakened in proportion. If we cannot 
trust God, why should we concern ourselves with duty ? If 
there is no power above and around us, to take care of us 
and of all, and to make truth and righteousness triumph in 
the end, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. " If we 
build God's house," said Davenport, " God will build our 
house." " While we are attending to our duty, God will be 
providing for our safety." 

Habitual communion with God was the secret source of 
this strong practical confidence. " A young minister* once 

* This young minister was probably Increase Mather, whom his son, in 
liis account of Davenport, frequently denominates by some such periphrasis. 



151 

receiving wise and good counsels from this good and wise 
and great man, received this among the rest, 'that he should 
be much in ejaculatory prayers; for indeed ejaculatory pray- 
ers — as arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are they, — 
happy is the man that has his quiver full of them.' And it 
was believed that he himself was well used to that sacred 
skill of ' walking with God,' and 'having his eyes ever to- 
wards the Lord,' and ' being in the fear of the Lord all the 
day long,' by the use of ejaculatory prayers on the innu- 
merable occasions, which every turn of our lives does bring 
for those devotions. He was not only constant in more set- 
tled, whether social or secret, prayers ; but also in the midst 
of all besieging incumbrances, tying the wishes of his devout 
soul to the arrows of ejaculatory prayers, he would shoot 
them away to the heavens, from whence he still expected 
all his help."* 

It is always easy to detract from greatness and from good- 
ness ; for the greatest minds are not exempt from infirmity, 
and the purest and noblest bear some stain of human imper- 
fection. Let others find fault with the founders of the New 
England colonies, because they were not more than human ; 
be it ours to honor them. We have no occasion to disparage 
the wisdom or the virtues of the lawgivers of other states 
and nations ; nor need the admirers of Calvert or of Penii 
detract from the wisdom, the valor, or the devotion of the 
fathers of New England. Not to Winthrop and Cotton, nor 
to Eaton and Davenport, nor yet to Bradford and Brewster, 
belongs the glory of demonstrating with how little govern- 
ment society can be kept together, and men's lives and prop- 
erty be safe from violence. That glory belongs to Roger 
Williams ; and to him belongs also the better glory of strik- 
ing out and maintaining, with the enthusiasm though not 
without something of the extravagance of genius, the great 
conception of a perfect religious liberty. New England has 
learned to honor the name of Williams as one of the most 



Magnalia, III, 54. 



152 

illustrious in her records ; and his principle of unlimited reli- 
gious freedom, is now incorporated into the being of all her 
commonwealths. To Penn belongs the glory, of having first 
opened in this land a free and broad asylum for men of every 
faith and every lineage. To him due honor is conceded ; 
and America, still receiving into her " broad-armed ports," 
and enrolling among her own citizens, the thousands that 
come not only from the British Isles, but from the Alps, and 
from the Rhine, and from the bloody soil of Poland, — glories 
in his spreading renown. What then do we claim for the 
Pilgrims of Plymouth — what for the stern old Puritans of 
the Bay and of Connecticut — what for the founders of New 
Haven ? Nothing, but that you look with candor on what 
they have done for their posterity and for the world. Their 
labors, their principles, their institutions, have made New 
England, with its hard soil and its cold long winters, " the 
glory of all lands." The thousand towns and villages, — the 
decent sanctuaries not for show but for use, crowning the hill- 
tops, or peering out from the valleys, — the means of educa- 
tion accessible to every family, — the universal diffusion of 
knowledge, — the order and thrift, the general activity and 
enterprise, the unparalleled equality in the distribution of 
property, the general happiness resulting from the diffusion 
of education and of pure religious doctrine, — the safety in 
which more than half the population sleep nightly with un- 
bolted doors, — the calm, holy Sabbaths, when mute nature 
in the general silence becomes vocal with praise, when the 
whisper of the breeze seems more distinct, the distant water- 
fall louder and more musical, the carol of the morning birds 
clearer and sweeter — this is New England ; and where will 
you find the like, save where you find the operation of New 
England principles and New England influence ? This is 
the work of our fathers and ancient lawgivers. They came 
hither, not with new theories of government from the labo- 
ratories of political alchymists, not to try wild experiments 
upon human nature, but only to found a new empire for God, 
for truth, for virtue, for freedom guarded and bounded by 



153 

justice. To have failed in such an attempt had been glori- 
ous. Their glory is that they succeeded. 

In founding their commonwealths, their highest aim was 
the glory of God in " the common welfare of all." Never 
before, save when God brought Israel out of Egypt, had any 
government been instituted with such an aim. They had 
no model before them, and no guidance save the principles of 
truth and righteousness embodied in the word of God, and 
the wisdom which he giveth liberally to them that ask him. 
They thought that their end, " the common welfare of all," 
was to be secured by founding pure and free Churches, by 
providing the means of universal education, and by laws 
maintaining perfect justice, which is the only perfect lib- 
erty. " The common welfare of all," said Davenport, is 
that '' whereunto all men are bound principally to attend 
in laying the foundation of a commonwealth, lest posterity 
rue the first miscarriages when it will be too late to redress 
them. They that are skillful in architecture observe, that 
the breaking or yielding of a stone in the groundwork of a 
building, but the breadth of the back of a knife, will make 
a cleft of more than half a foot in the fabric aloft. So im- 
portant, saith mine author, are fundamental errors. The 
Lord awaken us to look to it in time, and send us his light 
and truth to lead us into the safest ways in these begin- 
nings."* 

Not in vain did that prayer go up to heaven. Light and 
truth were sent ; and posterity has had no occasion to rue 
the miscarriages of those who laid the '•'■ groundwork" of New 
England. On their foundations has arisen a holy structure. 
Prayers, toils, tears, sacrifices, and precious blood, have hal- 
lowed it. No unseemly fissures, deforming " the fabric 
aloft," dishonor its founders. Convulsions that have rocked 
the world, have not moved it. When terror has seized the 
nations, and the faces of kings have turned pale at the foot- 
steps of Almighty wrath, peace has been within its walls, 

* Discourse upon Civil Governniont, 14. 

20 



154 

cind still the pure incense has been fragrant at its altar. 
Wise master-builders were they who laid the foundations. 
They built for eternity. 

Among those truly noble men, it is not easy to name one 
more strongly marked with bright endowments, and brighter 
virtues, or more worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance, 
than he for whom the quaint historian has proposed as his fit 
epitaph, 

VIVUS, NOV-ANGLIiE AC ECCLESIiE ORNAMENTUM, 



MORTUUS, UTRIUSQUE TRISTE DESIDERIUM.* 



* Several letters from Mr. Davenport to Gov. Winthrop, heretofore un- 
published, will be found in the appendix No. XI. The catalogue of Da- 
venport's published works, and some other particulars of information con- 
cerning him, will also be found in the same place. 



DISCOURSE VIII. 

NICHOLAS STREET. THE FIRST GENERATION PASSING AWAY. 

THE ERA OF THE WAR WITH KING PHILIP. 

EccLESiASTES, i, 4. — One generation passeth away, antl another genera- 
tion cometli. 

When Mr. Davenport removed to Boston, he did not leave 
this Church destitute of the stated ministry of the word. His 
colleague, who has already been named as sustaining the 
office of teacher, was the Rev. Nicholas Street. Mr. Street 
received his education in England ; but at which of the uni- 
versities, if at either, I am unable to ascertain. Nor does it 
appear in what year he came into this country. He was set- 
tled at Taunton, in the Plymouth colony, as colleague with 
Mr. Hooke, at the first organization of the Church there, 
about the year 1638. There was a period in the history of 
the Plymouth colony — "an hour of temptation," as Mather 
describes it, " when the fondness of the people for the proph- 
esyings of the brethren, as they called those exercises, that 
is to say the preachments of those whom they called gifted 
brethren, produced those discouragements to their ministers, 
that almost all their ministers left the colony, apprehending 
themselves driven away by the insupportable neglect and 
contempt with which the people treated them."* At the 
commencement, as I suppose, of " that dark hour of eclipse," 
Mr. Hooke relinquished the office of pastor in the Church at 
Taunton, and accepted that of teacher in the Church at New 
Haven. Twelve years afterwards, when the " eclipse" in 
Plymouth colony was probably the darkest, the ofiice of 
teacher in this Church became vacant again by Mr. Hooke's 

* Magn. 1, 14. Samuel Newman, of Relioboth, " was almost the only min- 
ister whose invincible patience held out under the scandalous neglect and 
contempt of the ministry which the whole colony of Plymouth was for a 
while bewitched into." — Ibid. Ill, 114. 



156 

return to England ; and it may be presumed that it was by Mr. 
Hooke's friendly influence that his old colleague at Taunton 
became his successor here. The Church did not proceed on 
that occasion as Churches now proceed when they call a min- 
ister away from his settlement. They did not place him over 
them as their minister, merely because of his general repu- 
tation, or because somebody recommended him. Mr. Street 
left Taunton, removed his family to New Haven, took up his 
residence here, and afterwards, when he had become ac- 
quainted with the people and the people with him, he was 
elected and ordained teacher of this Church. The date of 
his ordination stands upon our church records, " the 26th of 
the 9th, 1659."* 

For eight or nine years, he was associated here with Mr. 
Davenport. After the removal of his colleague, he continued 
the only minister in the Church till his death, which took 
place on the 22d of April, 1674. Since that time, there has 
been no distinction attempted in this Church between the 
the office of teacher and that of pastor. 

Of the character of Mr. Street, as of his life, we know but 
little. He appears to have been a pious, judicious, modest 
man. His " Considerations upon the Seven Propositions con- 
cluded by the Synod," published as an appendix to Mr. Dav- 

* The Rev.Ricliard Blininan appears to liave preached to this Church for 
a short time after Mr. Hooke went away, and before Mr. Street was intro- 
duced into the vacancy. According to Winthrop, (II, 64,) who characteri- 
zes him as " a godly and able man," became over from Wales in •1642. He 
labored a few montlis at Marshfield; then he and his friends removed from 
that place to Cape Ann, and founded Gloucester. In 1648, he was the first 
minister at New London. It is not improbable that he was brought to New 
Haven by the friendly offices of Governor Winthrop. The only instance in 
which his name appears on our records is on the first of July, 1658, when at 
a town meeting, " Deacon Miles informed that Mr. Bllnman was like to want 
corn and other provisions within a short time, which he desired might 
be considered, how he may be supplied." From New Haven he went to 
Newfoundland, and thence to England. Mather (Magn. Ill, 13) says, that 
he " concluded his life at the city of Bristol, where one of the last things he 
did was to defend in print the cause of infant-baptism." He had been min- 
ister at Chepstow, near Bristol. — Non-conformist's Memorial, (Palmer's ed.,) 
Ill, 177. See Allen's Biographical Dictionary. 



157 

enport's more elaborate book on the same subject, shows great 
clearness of thought, and some pungency of style. That he 
Avas no inferior preacher, may be inferred from the fact that 
he was found worthy to succeed Mr. Hooke, and that he 
maintained his standing as the colleague of Mr. Davenport. 
The whole course of his ministry here, was about sixteen 
years and a half. 

Most of the incidents of his ministry have been commem- 
orated in our notices of Mr. Davenport. Yet one proceeding 
of the Church and people, which does not appear to have 
been consummated till after Mr. Davenport's removal, ought 
not to be omitted here. In the year 1665, on the day of 
the anniversary thanksgiving, a contribution was " given in" 
for "the saints that were in want in England." This was 
at the time when, in that country, so many ministers, ejected 
from their places of settlement, were, by a succession of enact- 
ments, studiously cut otf from all means of obtaining bread 
for themselves and their wives and children. The contribu- 
tion was made, as almost all payments of debts or of taxes 
were made at that period, in grain and other commodities ; 
there being no money in circulation, and no banks by which 
credit could be converted into currency''. It was paid over to 
the deacons in the February following. We, to whom it is 
so easy, in the present state of commerce, to remit the value 
of any contribution to almost any part of the world, cannot 
easily imagine the circuitous process by which that contribu- 
tion reached the " poor saints " whom it was intended to re- 
lieve. By the deacons the articles contributed were probably 
first exchanged, to some extent, for other commodities more 
suitable for exportation. Then the amount was sent to Bar- 
badoes, with which island the merchants of this place had 
intercourse, and was exchanged for sugars, which were thence 
sent to England, to the care of four individuals, two of whom 
were Mr. Hooke and Mr. Newman, the former teacher and 
ruling elder of this Church. In 1671, Mr. Hooke, in a letter 
to the Church, said, '' Mr. Caryl, Mr. Barker, Mr. Newman 
and myself have received sugars from Barbadoes to the value^ 



158 

of about £90, and have disposed of it to several poor minis- 
ters and ministers' widows. And this fruit of your bounty- 
is very thankfully received and acknowledged by us. And 
the good Lord make all grace to abound towards you, &c. 
2 Cor. ix, 8—12."* 

The death of Mr. Street was followed by a period of ten 
years in which the Church was without an elder to labor in 
word and doctrine. During this long interval, the work of 
the ministry, so far as it was performed at all, was performed 
by a succession of candidates, whose occasional and tem- 
porary labors could accomplish but little for the cause of re- 
ligion. Of these preachers, the most distinguished, and 
indeed the only one of whom any thing is now known with 
certainty, was Mr. John Harriman, afterwards pastor at Eliz- 
abethtown, in New Jersey. Mr. Harriman was a native of 
New Haven. His father was for many years a respected 
member of the Church, and was long the keeper of the ordi- 
nary, or house of public entertainment in this town. The 
son, having been fitted for college in the grammar school 
here, under the eye of Mr. Davenport, was educated at Har- 
vard College, where he graduated in 1667. For about twenty 
years, he resided in this place ; and during that period, he 
preached as a candidate for the ministry here, at Walling- 
ford, and at East Haven. 

Another of the preachers liere during the same period, was 
a Mr. Taylor, whom I suppose to be the Joseph Taylor who 
graduated at Harvard College in 1669, who was a fellow or 
tutor in that institution, who was ordained pastor of South- 

* Town records. The words of Paul referred to by Mr. Hooke, are these : 
" And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always 
having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work : (as it is 
written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor; his right- 
eousness remaineth for ever. Now, he that ministereth seed to the sower, 
both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase 
the fruits of your righteousness :) being enriched in every thing to all boun- 
iifulness, which causelh through us thanksgiving to God, For the adminis- 
tration of this service not only supplieth the wants of the saints, but is abun- 
dant also by many thanksgivings unto God." 



159 

ampton, on Long Island, in March, 16S0, and who died in 
April, 1682, aged 31.* He appears to have been preaching 
here before the death of Mr. Street ; and he continued to 
perform that work till the spring of 1679 ; and after that, in 
September, it was not yet certain that he would not return. 

Mr. Harriman's service in the Church began in July, 1676. 
In March, 1678, he was desired by the Church ''to go on in 
his work." His labors here continued till the year 1682. 
Mr. Taylor, at least, seems to have been at one time called 
by the Church to a permanent settlement, f 

While these two men were employed by the Church as 
preachers, there arose much ditficulcy and contention, the 
precise nature of which I have not been able to ascertain. 
Tradition says, that the contention was between the adhe- 
rents of the rival candidates, and that the two parties were 
known by the names of the two preachers ; but nothing of 
this kind appears on any of the records, and it is quite as 
likely that the division was upon the great question of the 
day, the question about " the halfway covenant." It is cer- 
tain, however, that there were difficulties ; that the Church 
and the town were much divided ; and that religion greatly 
declined, while many things were done which were after- 
wards repented of with public humiliation. 

* Farmer, Gencal. Reg. Dr. Dana, [M'obably by mistake, says that Mr. 
Taylor's name was Jolin. 

t These particulars arc gleaned partly from the records of the town, and 
partly frojn those of the Church. Mr. Taylor was doubtless the person in- 
dicated by the initials " J. T." in the following anecdote, which Matlier 
(Magn. VII, 34.) copies from the letter of " an excellent and ingenious per- 
son," probably Mr. Pierpont. 

" E. F. sometimes of Salem, coming to New Haven on Saturday even, be- 
ing cloathed in black, was taken for a minister, and was able to ape one, and 
humored the mistake like him that said. Si vult populus decipi decipiatur. 
Word being carried to Mr. J. T. that a minister was come to town, he im- 
mediately procured him to preach both parts of tlie day. The first was to 
acceptation ; but in the last exercise he plentifully showed himself to be a 
whimsical opinionist, and besides, railed like Rabshakeh, and reviled tlic ma- 
gistrates, ministers and churches at such a rate, that the people were ready 
lo pull him out of the pulpit." 



160 

On the 5th of February, 1678, a council from the Churches 
of Milford and Guilford met here "to be helpful" to this 
Church "with light and counsel touching the difficulties" 
which then existed. As the proceedings which ensued serve 
to give some idea of the state of the Church at that time, 
some account of them is proper. Eight days after the meet- 
ing of the council, namely, on Wednesday, the 12th of Feb- 
ruary, the Church met " to read and consider what advice 
was left by the honored and reverend council." In compli- 
ance with the advice given, Mr. William Jones and Capt. 
John Nash, " were by vote called and desired to assist the 
deacon in molding and moderating matters for the Church ;" 
and a day of fasting and prayer was agreed upon to be kept 
on Wednesday of the following week. Mr. Jones and Capt. 
Nash were requested to draw up in writing a statement of the 
grounds on which the Church was to unite in public humili- 
ation. The statement thus prepared was submitted to the 
Church on the Sabbath day, and was approved and assented 
to. The day appointed was duly observed as a day of hu- 
mihation, fasting and prayer, the public exercises " being car- 
ried on, the former part of the day by Deacon Peck and Mr. 
Harriman, and the latter part by Mr. William Jones and Capt. 
John Nash, with appearance of the gracious presence and as- 
sistance of God, to the refreshing and comfort of all that 
were present."* 

After the close of Mr. Harriman's services in the year 1683, 
the Church and town enjoyed for one year the labors of a 
Mr. Wilson, who came to this place from " the Bay ;" but 
of whom nothing farther is now known.f 

During this period, a great change took place in the mode 
of supporting public worship. The original method of de- 
fraying ecclesiastical expenses from the church treasury in 
the keeping of the deacons, and of supplying the church 
treasury by voluntary contributions only, was maintained till 
Mr. Davenport and Mr. Street were both gone. But in 



Cliurch Records. t Town Records. 



IGi 

March, 1677, a proposition was presented in writing from the 
Church to a town meeting, by Deacon Peck, upon wliich, 
"after debate, the town, for the encom-agement of those that 
preach the word of God unto us, according as had been pro- 
pounded, did by vote order and appoint, that for the ensuing 
year there shall be levied and paid from the inhabitants two 
rates and a half," that is, a tax of two and a half pence in 
the pound. Bat the change was not complete. No man 
was appointed to collect this tax ; it seems to have been sup- 
posed that every man would pay his part at his own conve- 
nience, either to the ministers or to the church treasury. 
And when at the next town meeting, " John Thompson pro- 
pounded that some might be appointed to receive the minis- 
ter's rates," " it was answered that it was not of necessity at 
this time." And when the same man, supposing that it now 
belonged to the town to employ and dismiss ministers as well 
as to pay them, " further propounded that the town v/ould 
appoint a committee to treat with the ministers, and that it 
was according to law ; the law was read, and he was told that 
the law speaks of no such thing. Then he said it was ac- 
cording to Christianity ; but he was answered, that neither 
our law nor Christian rules required it of us, and the town 
had other occasions to attend at this time, which they were 
come together to perform." Yet at another town meeting, 
in December of the same year, " Mr. Jones informed the 
town that one occasion of calling them together was respect- 
ing the ministers. The townsmen had heard that there were 
not necessary supplies brought in for their subsistence, which 
was not well among such a people." And accordingly, " the 
town by vote did make choice of and appoint Deacon Will- 
iam Peck and John Chidsey to make up the rate and ap])oint 
the delivery of it to the ministers, and to prosecute such as 
fail in the payment."* Thus the change was completed. 
The support of the ministry was transferred to the town. 
The change seems to indicate, not only that the ministers 

* Town Records. 

21 



162 

then serving in the pulpit had a much lower place in the 
affections of the people than Mr. Davenport and his colleagues 
had possessed ; but also that the power of religion itself 
in the community was declining. The change shows the 
growth of selfish and narrow feelings, and the decay of pub- 
lic spirit. It shows that one generation was passing away, 
and that another was coming. 

The period of this protracted vacancy in the pastoral office 
here, included the times of the memorable war of the New 
England colonies with the Indians combined under King 
Philip. I may not stop to tell the story of that war, during 
which the very existence of New England was in question. 
Philip, of Mount Hope, a high-spirited savage, of great en- 
terprise, bravery and military genius, jealous of the constant 
growth of the English settlements, hating their religion, des- 
pising those of his own countrymen who embraced the wor- 
ship and cultivated the manners of the white men, and feeling 
strong in that acquaintance with the arms of civilized war- 
fare which the Indians had so extensively acquired, united 
the savage tribes of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in a last 
desperate effort to exterminate the English. The conflict 
lasted about two years ; and it was a conflict, the details of 
which show more of lieroism in action and in suffering, than 
can be found in the history of almost any other war, ancient 
or modern. During that war, so crowded with disasters and 
horrors that fill the traditions of all the old towns of Massa- 
chusetts, New Haven, and indeed every other settlement 
within the bounds of Connecticut, was mercifully preserved 
from the presence of the enemy. No village was swept 
away by the storm of war. No rural sanctuary was laid in 
ruins. No laborer, shot by the ambushed savage, fell in the 
furrow. No father returning to his house, found all desolate, 
the calcined bones of his children mingled with the ashes of 
his dwelling. No mother, torn from her sick bed, saw her 
babe dashed in pieces against her own hearth-stone. Such 
things there were in other parts of New England ; but they 
were not in Connecticut. Yet here were alarms and watch- 



1G3 

ings — here were levies of soldiers-^here every storehouse, 
every dwelhng, yielded its supphes to feed the army — here 
was that sad sight, the young, the brave, the hope of gray- 
haired sires, the strength and pride of the plantation, march- 
ing away from the homes that looked to them for protection. 
Here were dreadful tidings from the camp and the battle. 

In the records of proceedings here at that time, there is so 
much of freshness and vividness, so much to illustrate the 
character and condition of the people, that I may be excused 
in transcribing a few passages. 

At a town meeting, the 2d of July, 1675, just twelve days 
after Philip's first act of hostility, " Mr. Jones acquainted the 
town, that the occasion of calling the meeting so suddenly 
was concerning the rising and outrage of the Indians in 
Plymouth colony at Seakonk and Swansy. which was in- 
formed by letters sent from the Narragansett country to the 
Governor, the copies of which were sent to us that we con- 
sider and prepare in time against the common danger." Af- 
ter the reading of the letters, " it was moved that every per- 
son now would be quickened to have his arms ready by him 
for his use and defense. And it was advised that those who 
live abroad at the farms be careful not to straggle abroad into 
the woods, at least not yet, till we have further intelligence 
of the Indians' motions, and that they keep watch in the 
night to discover danger, and upon intelligence of danger to 
get together to stand for their defense at the farms, or else to 
come to the town." " Mr. Jones further informed that Philip 
the Indian was a bloody man, and hath been ready formerly 
to break out against the English, but had been hitherto re- 
strained. But now war was broke forth, and it is likely must 
be prosecuted." " The town was also informed that the ma- 
gistrates had had speech with our Indians, and they denied 
any knowledge of Philip's motions, neither did they like 
them, and also said that they had no men gone that way, and 
would give us any intelligence they meet with, and that if 
any strange Indians come to them, they will inform us and 
not harbor them. The town ordered that an account bo ta- 



164 

ken of the Indians, how many men they are and where they 
are ; and Matthew Moulthrop, who now took the constable's 
oath, was to warn them and look after them." Arrangements 
were also made for " a military watch at the town ;" and a 
committee of safety was appointed. 

At a meeting in September, a committee was appointed 
to superintend the erection of fortifications at the meeting 
house, "and also at any other place or places about town, as 
they or the major part of them shall agree." Capt. Roswell 
was appointed " to prepare the great guns, or so many of 
them as is necessary, to be fit for service." And finally, " the 
town considering the present circumstances, and our danger, 
by vote appointed (whilst these exercises are on us) that all 
the inhabitants bring their arms and ammunition to the meet- 
ings upon the Sabbaths and other public days," 

On the 12tli of October, there was " a meeting of the 
dwellers in the town, the farms not being warned," at which 
" Mr. Jones acquainted the town, that the cause of calling the 
town together was the sad tidings that was come to us, of 
the burning of Springfield, and some persons slain by the 
Indians." It was immediately agreed that besides the forti- 
fication on the green, palisadoes should be erected at the ends 
of the streets and at the angles of the town, such as should 
be a shelter against the shot of an enemy. It was also ordered 
that all small wood, brush and underwood within half a mile 
of the town plot should be cut down and cleared away, that 
it might not afford shelter to Indians to creep in a skulking 
manner near the town. 

So again on the 18th of October, Mr. Jones acquainted the 
town that intelligence had come " that there is a strong con- 
federacy among the Indians in these parts against the Eng- 
lish, and that our pretended friends are in the plot, and that 
this light moon they did intend to attack Hartford and some 
other places as far as Greenwich." He also gave informa- 
tion on the authority of some communication from Major 
Treat, " that the Narragansetts are in great preparation for 
war." The General Court too, he told them, and the Coun- 



165 

cil " do advise all the plantations to fortify themselves in the 
best way they can against the common enemy." The busi- 
ness of enclosing the town with fortifications was urged for- 
ward ; and it was determined that while that work was in 
progress, some particular houses should be garrisoned. 

Twelve days afterwards, (30th October,) there was another 
meeting, and farther arrangements were made for hastening 
the fortifications. " The Deputy Governor [Leete] being 
present in the meeting, spoke much to the encouragement 
and advising of the inhabitants to go on with the work, and 
to do it with unanimity, seeking the safety of the whole, as 
far as may be, but especially as in the natural body the hands 
and all the members seek the securing of the heart." 

During the depth of winter, the alarm was somewhat less 
urgent ; but on the 7th of February, (17th, N. S.) "it was 
propounded that now the winter season, which had hindered 
the finishing of the fortification about the town, wearing off, 
it [the fortification] might go forward again and be perfected ; 
and thatjhe present state of things as to the war, calls for 
attendance to that work, especially the Narragansetts appear- 
ing in such hostility : and the last intelligence from the Coun- 
cil at Hartford was, that the enemy doth scatter into several 
bodies to disperse themselves into the country ; and they be- 
ing hungry will seek for supply : and the consideration of 
what damage may come, should hasten us in our duty to be 
in the use of means for our safety." 

On the 6th of March, the fortification being not yet com- 
pleted, it was ordered, for the sake of obtaining " a supply of 
wood to finish the line," " that every team in the town and 
farms, except those on the east side of the East river, do each 
of them bring to the work one load of suitable wood, and 
those that have not teams to help to cut it, and to bring it 
at the farthest on the 8th and 9th days of this month." At 
the same time an order was made " that no Indian be suffered 
to come into the town to see the fortifications, or take notice 
of any of our actings and motions ; and that by the consta- 
ble, warning be given them that not any of them may come 



166 

into the town, nor unto any English houses ; and that if any 
Indian come into the town, he be apprehended and sent back 
again, yet what may be to avoid any misusage of them." 
All persons able to bear arms were ordered to bring their 
arms, with a sufficient quantity of powder and shot, to all 
meetings for public worship ; " only the dwellers at the farms 
had liberty in bad weather to leave their arms, and so secure 
them that the enemy get them not." The distress of the 
time was augmented by sickness, which made it necessary at 
a meeting in April, to reduce their nightly watch. 

In the course of the ensuing summer, the war was brought 
to a conclusion. In the east, however, the war continued 
several years longer, till most of the settlements in what is 
now the State of Maine had been swept away, and the coun- 
try recovered by the savages. 

The two years of war with King Philip, were the most 
disastrous and dreadful years in all the history of New Eng- 
land. Desperate as was the struggle a century later, in the 
war of the revolution, that conflict with the most powerful 
nation on earth, involved less of suffering, and less expendi- 
ture of treasure and of life, in proportion to what were then 
the resources of the United States, than was involved in the 
war with Philip. At the close of the war, more than six 
hundred of the inhabitants of New England, including no 
small part of the flower and strength of the colonies, had 
fallen in battle or been murdered by the enemy. There was 
hardly a family or an individual that was not mourning the 
loss of some near friend. Every eleventh man in the mihtia 
had fallen ; every eleventh family throughout New England 
had been " burnt out." The cultivation of the soil had been 
in a great measure suspended ; all resources were exhausted ; 
and every colony and town was loaded with debt.* In all 
the conflict, and in the ensuing distresses, not the least assist- 
ance did the colonies derive from the parent country. Nay, 
at that very time, the profligates in the court of Charles II, 

* Trumbull, I, 350. 



167 

were plotting how to seize and divide the spoils of weakened 
and impoverished New England. 

The first and most obvious effect of war is to exhaust and 
impoverish. It is this which the suffering country feels at 
the time, with the keenest sensibility. Upon this the histo- 
rian dwells in his narrative, with the most copious illustra- 
tions. But how soon do such effects pass away, when once 
the cause has ceased. The 

" Grass o'ergrovvs cacli mouldering bone," 

upon the battle-ground, — the corn waves again in the field 
where the fires of the enemy spread devastation, — the ruined 
home is rebuilt, — the empty storehouse is replenished, — new 
affections spring up, new joys and griefs occupy the minds of 
survivors ; and, in a little while, how few are the visible 
traces of the storm that swept the land, and left it filled with 
horror. 

But war has other effects, deeper, more to be dreaded, 
more enduring. It demoralizes and barbarizes the people. 
What passions does it awaken and nourish ! What habits 
does it form ! How does a population long trained to war 
loathe the industry, and despise the virtues of peace ! Wrath, 
fury, rapine, are the virtues of war. And the more desperate 
the conflict, the nearer it is brought to every man's hearth, 
the deeper and more abiding will be those unseen but dire- 
ful influences.* Where the young men finish their schooling 



* If any reader doubts wliat is meant by the demoralizing and barbarizing 
tendency of war, let him read what Hutcliinson has recorded in a note, as 
illustrating the exasperation of the people at the period now under review. 
" Mr. Increase Mather, in a letter to Mr. Cotton, [of Plymouth.] 23d, .5mo. 
1G77, mentions an instance of rage against two prisoners of the Eastern In- 
dians, then at Marblehead, a fishing town, which goes beyond any other I 
have heard of. ' Sabbath day was sc'night, the women at Marblehead, as 
they came out of the meeting house, fell upon two Indians that were brought 
in as captives, and in a tumultuous way, very barbarously murdered them. 
Doubtless if the Indians hear of it, the captives among thera will be served 
accordingly.' The Indians had murdered some of the fishermen in the East- 
ern harbors of the province." Hutch. I, 307. 



168 

in tlie camp, no matter how severe the disciphne, or how 
righteous the cause, what can be expected but corruption ? 

War also resists and even corrupts the influences of reh- 
gion. When war in a righteous cause, war for hberty and 
for existence, rouses a people to enthusiasm, it makes religion 
not its ally only, but its handmaid. And pure religion can- 
not but be the sufferer by such a servitude. All the history 
of Christianity is a melancholy illustration of this. When 
did religion "pure and undefiled" prosper, — when did it es- 
cape corruption, and the paralysis of its salutary powers, 
in a country agitated with war ? The gospel is the religion 
of peace ; and in peace only, does it yield those leaves which 
are for the healing of the nations. 

The desperate war with Philip, and the more prolonged 
conflict with the Eastern Indians, had much to do with the 
decay of the primitive glory of New England. The country 
recovered without difficulty from its impoverishment and ex- 
haustion ; population spread rapidly over the regions from 
which the vanquished barbarian had fled ; but the pure stern 
primitive morals, and the power of evangelical doctrine, suf- 
fered a continued decay. 

As I trace this history from one period of distress and con- 
flict to another, the thought is continually presenting itself, 
How great the expense at which our privileges have been ob- 
tained for us ! We dwell in peace and perfect safety. The 
lines are fallen to us in pleasant places. Beauty, comfort, 
light, joy, are all around us. The poorest man among us, 
has within his reach immunities and blessings without num- 
ber, means of improvement and means of enjoyment, to 
which the far greater portion of mankind, even in the most 
favored communities, have hitherto been strangers. And 
how little of this has been obtained by any eifort or any sacri- 
fice of ours. We have entered into other men's labors. We 
are enjoying the results of their agonies, and the answer to 
their prayers. They subdued the wilderness, and planted a 
land not sown ; that we might dwell in a land adorned with 
culture, and enriched with the products of industry and art. 



169 

They traversed with weary steps the pathless woods, where 
the wild beast growled upon them from his lair ; that we 
might travel upon roads of iron, borne by powers of which 
they never dreamed, and with a speed that leaves the winds 
behind. They encountered all that is terrible in savage 
war, and shed their blood in swamps and forests ; that 
we might live in this security. They, with anxiety that 
never rested, and with many a stroke of vigilant or daring 
policy, baffled the machinations of the enemies who sought 
to reduce them to a servile dependence on the crown ; that 
we might enjoy this popular government, these equal laws, 
this perfect liberty. They came to the world's end, away 
from schools and libraries, and all the fountains of light in 
the old world ; that we and our children might inhabit a 
land, glorious with the universal diffusion of knowledge. 
They were exiles for truth and purity, they like their Savior 
were tempted in the wilderness ; that the truth might make 
us free, and that the richest blessing of their covenant God 
might come on their posterity. All that there is in our lot 
for which to be grateful, we owe, under God, to those who 
here have labored, and prayed, and suffered for us. 

So it is every where. While every man is in one view 
the arbiter of his own destiny, the author of his own weal or 
woe ; in another view, equally true and equally important, 
every man's lot is determined by others. Every where in 
this world, you see the principle of vicarious action and vica- 
rious suffering. No being under the government of God, ex- 
ists for himself alone ; and in this world of conflict and of 
change, where evermore one generation passeth away and 
another generation cometh, the greatest toil of each succeed- 
ing age is to provide for its successors. Thus, by the very 
constitution and conditions of our existence here, does our 
Creator teach us to rise above the narrow views and aims of 
selfishness, and to find our happiness in seeking the happiness 
of others. Such is God's plan, — such are the relations by 
which he connects us with the past and with the future, as 
well as with our fellow actors in the passing scene ; and the 

2'^ 



170 

mind which by the grace of the gospel has been renewed to 
a participation " of the Divine nature," throws itself sponta- 
neously into God's plan, and learns the meaning of that motto, 
''None of us liveth to himself and none dieth to himself." 
The believer, created anew in Christ, and knowing him and 
the power of his resurrection, knows also "the fellowship of 
his sufferings, being made conformable to his death." (Phil, 
iii, 10.) In this spirit an apostle exclaimed, " I rejoice in my 
sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the 
afflictions of Christ." (Col. i, 24.) 

Look about you now, and compute if you can, how much 
you are enjoying of the purchase of other men's toils, the re- 
sults of their patience and steadfastness, and the answer to 
their prayers. The debt is infinite. All that you can do to 
discharge it, is to stand in your lot, for truth, for freedom, for 
virtue, and "for the good of posterity." 



DISCOURSE IX. 

FROM 1684 TO 1714. JAMES PIERPONT. CAUSES OF PROGRES- 
SIVE DECLENSION, AND ATTEMPTS AT REFORMATION. FOUND- 
ING OF YALE COLLEGE. FORMATION OF THE SAYBROOK CON- 
STITUTION. 

Psalm cxlv, 4. — One generation shall praise thy works to another, and 
shall declare thy mighty acts. 

As soon as New England began to recover from the ex- 
haustion and impoverishment consequent on the war with 
the Indians, the people here were greatly in earnest to obtain 
a reestablishment of the gospel ministry among them. It 
was a favorable circumstance for them, while their late di- 
visions were not yet entirely healed, that their attention was 
excited by the prospect of obtaining for their minister, a man 
of great eminence in that day, who in some respects resem- 
bled their former pastor. That man was the Rev. Joshua 
Moody of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, then called Pis- 
cataway. 

New Hampshire, less favored in its origin than the other 
New England colonies, was at that time subject to a royal 
governor, — a creature of King James II, practicing, in the 
four towns of New Hampshire, the same violations of right 
and liberty, which his master was practicing on a grander 
scale in England. To such a governor, the pastor of Ports- 
mouth had become greatly obnoxious, by the fearless free- 
dom of his preaching, and by his resoluteness in maintaining 
a strictly Congregational church discipline. A member of 
his Church was strongly suspected of having taken a false 
oath, in a matter relating to the seizure and escape of a ves- 
sel. The man thus charged with perjury, was able in some 
way to pacify the governor and the collector ; but in the 
Church, the supposed offense was made a subject of investi- 
gation. Mr. Moody, as pastor, requested of Cranfield, the 



172 

governor, copies of the evidence wliicli had been taken in 
the case by the government. The governor not only refused 
this request, but declared that the man having been forgiven 
by him, should not be called to account by any body else, 
and threatened the pastor with vengeance if he dared to pro- 
ceed in the matter. But Mr. Moody did not believe that the 
right of a Christian Church to inspect the conduct of its own 
members, or the duty of a Church to execute discipline upon 
offenders, depended on the will of governors or kings ; and 
to him the wrath of Cranfield was a small matter in compa- 
rison with the reproaches of his own conscience, or the dis- 
pleasure of God. Having consulted his Church, he preached 
a sermon on the sin of perjury ; and then the offender was 
tried, found guilty, and at last, by God's blessing upon the 
ordinance of church discipline, brought to repentance and a 
public confession. The governor, indignant at this manly 
proceeding, had yet no way to execute his threat of ven- 
geance but by some indirect method. He accordingly 
made an order, that all the ministers within the province, 
should admit all persons of suitable age, and not vicious in 
their lives, to the Lord's supper, and their children to bap- 
tism ; and that if any person should desire to have these sa- 
craments administered according to the liturgy of the Church 
of England, his desire should be complied with. The min- 
ister who should refuse obedience to this order, was to incur 
the same penalties as if he were in England and a minister 
there of the established church. Cranfield's next step was, 
without any loss of time, to send a written message to Mr. 
Moody, by the hands of the sheriff, signifying that he and 
two of his friends intended to partake of the Lord's supper 
the next Sunday, and requiring that it be administered to 
them according to the liturgy. To this demand, Mr. Moody 
returned the prompt denial which was expected ; and the 
consequence was, that for the double offense of refusing to 
conform to the order of the liturgy, and of refusing to pro- 
fane the Lord's supper by administering it to such men as 
Cranfield and his minions, he was prosecuted, convicted and 



173 

imprisoned. For thirteen weeks he remained in close con- 
finement ; and he was then released only under a strict 
charge to preach no more within the province, and a threat 
of farther imprisonment if he should.* 

During the progress of this controversy at Portsmouth, the 
Church here " had intelligence from some friends, that Mr. 
Moody was attainable if he were looked after." Thereupon 
the Church considering Mr. Moody to be " a man, by report, 
singularly fit for the ministry," " wrote a letter to be con- 
veyed to him by Mr. Whiting of Hartford." At the next 
town meeting, which was on the 17th of March, 1684, the 
town was informed of these proceedings, by deputy governor 
Bishop, and " their concurrence in the matter, to procure Mas- 
ter Moody if he can be had," was requested. It was stated 
that, as at the latest intelligence he was known to be a pris- 
oner, and as it was doubtful whether the letter had reached 
him before his imprisonment, the Church had thought con- 
venient to send a messenger, and in this proceeding desired 
the town's " loving concurrence, and that there might be 
unity and peace," "I hope," said Gov. Bishop, "we shall 
all agree, and desire an able ministry in this place for the 
good of our souls, as it is hoped that this man may be such 
a one." "Mr. Jones also spake much to the same effect, to 
do things in peace, and to get up to our former state and pu- 
rity, which we had in the time of Mr. Davenport, especially. 
He also acquainted the town with a letter he received from 
Mr. Whiting, respecting Mr. Moody." After debate, and 
some objection to the expense of sending a messenger " so 
far, at uncertainties," it was agreed to concur with the Church 
in inviting Mr. Moody to come as a minister to this place, 
and to commit it to the Church to send to him either by a 
messenger or by a letter.f 

The Church, thus empowered by the town, sent Mr. Jones, 
who was one of their most eminent men, and Mr. James Hea- 
ton, who was the son in law of their former minister, Mr- 

* Belknap, Hist, of New Hampshire, I, 204. t Town Records. 



174 

Street, as their messengers to treat with Mr, Moody. The 
result was, that Mr. Moody, having seen one of the messen- 
gers at Portsmouth about the time of his release from prison, 
in the month of May, and having afterwards conferred with 
both of them at Boston at the time of the election there, de- 
clined the invitation, because he still felt himself bound to 
his former people, and "would try the providence of God, 
if he might not preach near them, and they have liberty to 
hear him." 

The negotiation with Mr. Moody being thus terminated, 
the messengers, at the advice of several ministers in Boston, 
and of other friends, went so far beyond their commission as 
to make an application to Mr. James Pierpont to come and 
preach as a candidate for the pastoral office. Mr. Pierpont 
was then about twenty five years of age. He had graduated 
less than three years before, at Harvard College. But it 
is evident that, notwithstanding his youth, he was regarded 
as competent to the work of the ministry in any of the 
Churches of New England. 

Mr. Jones and Mr. Heaton, the messengers of the Church, 
having returned, made a statement of the results of their 
mission, at a town meeting, on the 9th of June. They in- 
formed the town that Mr. Pierpont, upon their proposal, and 
the advice and encouragement of his friends, " had engaged 
to come, and be here the first Sabbath in August next. Mr. 
Jones also informed, that the report they had of Mr. Pierpont 
was, that he was a godly man, a good scholar, a man of good 
parts, and likely to make a good instrument : — also, that they 
had agreed with him to send a man to come up with him, 
and a horse for him to ride up upon." After " a large debate," 
the doings of the messengers were harmoniously ratified.* 

Accordingly, in the month of August, the young candi- 
date made his appearance. At the town meeting in Septem- 
ber, Deacon Peck appeared in behalf of the Church. Hav- 
ing alluded to their sorrowful and afliicted state, in being so 



* Town Records. 



175 

long destitute of pastoral ministrations, and to the failure of 
former efforts, he adverted to the fact that another man, " and 
he hoped he might say of God's sending," was then with 
them. The Church, he said, were well satisfied with this 
man, and were desirous " that the town would concur with 
them in encouraging him, and that there might he a mainte- 
nance provided, he being at Mrs. Davenport's to his con- 
tent."* A great recommendation of the candidate was, — 
'' He is a man of peace, and desires peace in Church and 
town, and would rejoice to hear of it, and that there may be 
no after-troubles." The Deacon went on to say. " The 
Church hath had some consideration of differences that have 
been in the Church, and do see that there have been miss- 
ings and swervings from the rule, and will own them before 
the Lord, and to that end have agreed to keep a day of fast- 
ing and prayer in the public congregation, wherein to confess 
our sins before God, and beg pardon, and to seek his favor, 
and that his presence would be with them as in the former 
times. They hoped the town v/ould willingly join with 
them in keeping the day, to humble our souls before the 
Lord." It was also desired " that the town would declare 
their concurrence by their agreement, and now appoint some 
persons as their committee, to go to Mr. Pierpont to encour- 
age his settlement with us, that the Lord may return again 
to us in a settled ministry, for the good of us, our families, 
and of posterity." 

Mr. Jones followed with similar remarks. " It was true 
that since God took from us our teaching officers, we have 
had our miscarriages. And the Church hath lately met, and 
reflected on things and times past, and do see that they have 
dishonored God, and hindered the good of our neighbors, 
and, as Deacon Peck hath informed you, have made prepa- 
ration for a solemn day of prayer, and to acknowledge that 
which hath been grievous to others, or stumbling to any ; 

* This Mrs. Davenport was widow of the son of the first pastor, — daugh- 
ter of Rev. Abraham Pierson of Branford, — sister of the first Rector of Yalo 
College, — and mother of Rev. John Davenport of Stamford. 



176 

and have desired the town to join with them, in their prayer 
to God, that he would pardon our sins, and be with us in set- 
tHng the present instrument. And he doubted not but that 
the grounds for keeping [the fast] agreed upon, would be 
satisfying to all ; so that we may hope for God's presence 
and blessing on the ministry, for the good of all concerned. 
God is about a great work in the world, and hath guided Mr. 
Pierpont to preach those things that are suitable. And if 
God give the Church and town to go on together, it will be 
a great means." 

The conclusion of the matter, " after some moderate de- 
bate," was, that the town appointed " Mr. William Jones, 
John Nash, Dea. William Peck, Mr. John Hodson, and Mr. 
Thomas Trowbridge," to go to Mr. Pierpont as their com- 
mittee, " to congratulate and give him thanks for his love in 
coming to us, and [to assure him that] they did well accept 
his labors in preaching the gospel, and have found that God 
hath been, and hope will be with him, and do desire his 
going on in that work, that the Church and himself may 
have such experience and trial of each other, [as] to proceed 
in convenient time to settle in office in the Church in this 
place, if it may be the good will of God."* 

All these proceedings were not the only preliminaries to 
the settlement of Mr. Pierpont. At a meeting on the 6th of 
January, it was agreed, that a home-lot and house and other 
lands should be provided for Mr. Pierpont, on condition of 
his settling in office in the Church. The means of building 
the house were to be obtained by voluntary contributions. 
The magistrates and townsmen were made a committee to 
obtain the necessary funds, to plan the house according to 
the funds raised, and to oversee the building. The neces- 
sary amount was pledged in money, materials and labor, with- 
out difficulty or delay. On the 30th of January, the plan of 
the house was ready, and was ordered to be submitted to Mr. 
Pierpont for his approbation. The lot was purchased, and 

* Town Records. 



177 

the building was immediately commenced. When it was 
finished, it was one of the most commodious and stately- 
dwellings in the town. For more than a century, it stood a 
monument of the public spirit of the generation by whose 
voluntary contributions it was erected. As the people were 
bringing in their free-will offerings of one kind and another, 
to complete and furnish the building, one man desiring to do 
something for the object, and having nothing else to offer, 
brought on his shoulder from the farms two little elm sap- 
lings, and planted them before the door of the minister's 
house. Under their shade, some forty years afterwards, Jon- 
athan Edwards — then soon to take rank, in the intellectual 
world, with Locke and Leibnitz — spoke words of mingled 
love and piety in the ear of Sarah Pierpont.* Under their 
shade, when some sixty summers had passed over them, 
Whitefield stood on a platform, and lifted up that voice, the 
tones of which lingered so long in thousands of hearts. One 
of them is still standing, the tallest and most venerable of 
all the trees in this city of elms, and ever the first to be 
tinged with green at the return of spring.f 

The ordination of Mr. Pierpont took place on the second 
day of July, 1685,:]; after he had been with the people about 
eleven months as a candidate. The great number of bap- 
tisms which are recorded as following very rapidly after his 
ordination, makes it probable that at that time the " halfway 
covenant" principle, which had been recommended by the 
synod of 1662, and to oppose which, in Boston, where it ori- 
ginated, Mr. Davenport had relinquished his ministry here, — 
was introduced into this Church. Yet by what act of the 
Church such a change was introduced, by what considera- 
tions, or by whose influence, the Church was led to adopt 

* For an illusiration of this remark, see Dwight's Life of Edwarrls, 114. 

t The tree stands before the mansion of the late Judge Bristol, in Ehn 
street. I am obliged to add, that investigations made since this discourse 
was written, have thrown some doubt upon the ti7ne when the tree was 
planted, though still it is undoubtedly the oldest in the city. 

t Church Records. 

23 



178 

so great an innovation, the imperfection of our church records 
does not permit us to know. It may be presumed, that, as 
Mr. Pierpont came from Massachusetts, where the views of 
the synod had entirely prevailed, and where no less a man 
than Increase Mather, who at first wrote ably against the 
synod, had yielded to the compound force of numbers and 
of arguments, and had gone over to the prevailing opinion, — 
his influence was not exerted against the introduction of the 
halfway covenant here. 

The erection of a new meeting-house had been resolved 
upon in the year 1668, immediately after Mr. Davenport's re- 
moval to Boston ; and the edifice, after some delays, had 
been finished in 1670.* But very soon after the ordination 

* At a town meeting, 7th Sept. 1668, " the town was acquainted that the 
committee for the meeting-house had agreed with Nathan Andrews to build 
a new meeting-house for £300, and lie to have the old meeting-house ; against 
which no man objected." A year afterwards, it was "ordered that if Na- 
than Andrews need help for the carrying on of the work of the new meet- 
ing-house according to agreement, there shall be liberty to press such help 
as is necessary for that end." At a meeting, 14th March, 1670, " the town 
was informed that the occasion of this meeting was in reference to the new 
meeting-house, it going on but slowly;" and a tax was laid to expedite the 
work. On the 15th of April, the builder, Nathan Andrews, made a commu- 
nication which seems to have resulted in some modification of the contract ; 
and it was resolved to borrow £.50 of the trustees of the Grammar School, 
" to be repaid at or before this time twelvemonth." On the 3d of October, 
" the committee appointed for the seating of the people in the new meeting- 
house, informed the town that they had prepared something that way for a 
present trial, which was now read to the town." On the 14th of November, 
the old meeting-house was ordered to be sold " to the town's best advantage." 

In April, 1681, " there being a bell brought in a vessel into the harbor, it 
was spoken of, and generally it was desired it might be procured for the town ; 
and for the present it was desired that Mr. Thomas Trowbridge would, if he 
can, prevail with Mr. Hodge, the owner of it, to leave it with him until the 
town hath had some further consideration about it." In August, " the 
owner of the bell had sent to have it brought to the Bay in Joseph Alsop's 
vessel ;" " and it having lain so long, it would not be handsome for the town 
to put it off." Thereupon, " after a free and large debate," it was voted that 
the bell be purchased. The price was £17. In April, 1682, the town was 
informed that the bell was now " hanged in the turret ;" and in November, 
the townsmen " had agreed with George Pardee for his son Joseph to ring 
the bell for the town's occasions on the Sabbaths and other meetings, as it 



179 

of Mr. Pierpont, the number of attendants on public worship 
was found to be so great, that enlarged accommodations were 
necessary". The first step was, to fill up some empty places 
with seats; that being found insufficient, the galleries were 
brought forward, so as to make room for one additional seat 
in front of each gallery. Ten years afterwards, it was de- 
termined to enlarge the house itself; but the determination 
was not carried into effect till two years later. 

In the year 1697, another great change was made in the 
mode of supporting the ministry. After the support of the 
ministry was transferred, in 1677, from the Church to the 
town, it had been customary, from year to year, to grant a 
tax, or rate, of one, two or three pence in the pound, " for 
the encouragement of the ministry ;" and the avails of this 
tax, whether more or less, belonged to the minister or min- 
isters for the time being. But now a regular salary was pro- 
posed; and "after along debate, the town, by their vote, 
granted to pay the Rev. Mr. James Pierpont annually, while 
he shall preach the word of God to us, the sum of £120 in 
grain and flesh," at fixed prices, " also to supply him with 
fire-wood annually." This vote being communicated to Mr. 
Pierpont, he answered that he approved of it and accepted it, 
" until the providence of God should bring his family into 
such circumstances as that the salary would not support him 
in laboring at the altar." " I accept it," he said, " the more 
willingly, because I understand the oftering is made with a 
general cheerfulness, wherein God himself is well pleased, 
provided that due care be taken that this offering be brought 
into the house of God without lameness, or reflections on the 
ministry in the respective years." The hint which he thought 
proper to give in accepting the grant, was not an unwise one. 
The minister under the former methods of support, received 
from year to year, just what the people chose to give him. 

was wont to be by the drum, and also to ring the bell at nine of the clock 
every night." The town bell was to be sent to England in 1636, to be new 
cast and made bigger for the town's use. Mr. Simon Eyre offered to carry 
it out and back freight-free. 



180 

They must of course give cheerfully. He had no legal claim 
upon them. They had made no contract with him. What- 
ever they gave was simply " for his encouragement," and 
was the free expression of their confidence and love. 

One of the first persons received byMr. Pierpont to the full 
communion of the Church, was an aged man, known here by 
the name of James Davids. He had come to this place not far 
from the time of Mr. Davenport's removal. There was that 
in his dress and manners, in his great acquaintance with the 
public aflfairs of England and of Europe, and in his obvious 
desire of retirement, which led several of the most intelli- 
gent persons in the town to regard him, from the first, as 
one of those whom the restoration of the monarchy had 
made exiles from England, and whom their pastor had ex- 
horted them beforehand to shelter and protect. Mr. Jones, 
in particular, recognized him as one of King Charles' judges, 
whom, in his youth, he had often seen in London and West- 
minster ; but with him, of whose fidelity Whalley and Goffe 
had made so full an experiment, the perilous secret was safe. 
The retired stranger, who had his lodgings with Mr. Ling, 
received much of the confidence of those who became ac- 
quainted with him. He was twice married ; by his first wife, 
the widow of his friend Ling, he acquired a house and a con- 
siderable property. He attended to some little business, 
which gave him the title of a merchant, and sometimes he 
aided in the settlement of estates. Mr. Street named him as 
one of his executors.* He was greatly and generally re- 
spected, not only for his inteUigence, but for his piety. 
After his death, when another revolution in England had 
placed William and Mary on the throne, it became generally 
known that the equivocal initials on his grave-stone, " J. D. 
Esq." designated the last resting place of John Dixwell the 
regicide. f 

In no respect, did the ministry of Mr. Pierpont disappoint 
the expectations which had been formed concerning him in 

* Probate Records. t Sliles, 125 — 167. 



181 

his youth. Under his pastoral care, the people were at peace 
among themselves. As his prudence and amiableness, when 
he first came among them, were the means of bringing them 
together after long continued and painful divisions, they 
could not but regard him as a benefactor ; and, through all 
his ministry, they gave him their full confidence and hearty 
veneration. Their is no reason to doubt, that while he la- 
bored here, there was in the Church much of true and living 
piety. We have not indeed so many striking accounts of 
individuals in that day, as we have of those in the preceding 
age ; but we know that the piety of the first generation could 
not be extinct in the second. We know too, that though 
declension had commenced throughout New England, there 
were spirits every where that bewailed the declension, and 
hungered and thirsted for the days of old. 

The progressive religious declension of those times, the 
worst effects of which were felt a few years later, resulted 
from various causes, some of which we shall do well to notice. 

1. There had now been formed more of a union of Church 
and State, than had existed at the beginning. At first, the 
Church was independent of the State, though the State was 
not entirely independent of the Church. But now the min- 
isters of the gospel being supported by the towns in their 
civil capacity, and the government taking upon itself more 
and more the care not only of morals, but of religion and 
religious reformation, religion was becoming secularized. 
There was contimially less dependence upon God, and the 
power of the truth, to make men holy, and more dependence 
upon the civil magistrate, to make them put on the form of 
godliness. 

2. The operation of the half-way covenant system was 
doing away the visible distinction between the Church and 
the world, and continually diminishing that conviction of the 
necessity of spiritual religion, which the old Puritans left so 
strongly impressed upon the minds of the people. Under 
this system, there was a class of men, making no pretension 
at all to any experience of the renewing influences of God's 



182 

grace, and entirely neglecting the communion of the Lord's 
table, who were yet religious enough to be in covenant with 
God and with his people, and to give their children to God in 
baptism. 

3. That sort of theology in which the half-way covenant 
system had, in part, its origin, was continually exerting, 
unobserved, an influence unfavorable to spiritual religion. 
There is a sort of theology, nearly allied in its shape and 
statements to the truth, and ever ready to creep into orthodox 
Churches while men sleep, which, while it recognizes in 
form the necessity of spiritual renovation, feels that the un- 
regenerate man is not to be blamed much for being unregen- 
erate merely, or at least forgets that the sin of living without 
God and without a vital union to Christ, is the root and es- 
sence of all other sins, and is itself the very sin which brings 
the wrath of God forever upon him who does not forsake it. 
That theology which, — feeling that if the natural man uses 
the means of grace, and keeps within the bounds of outward 
morality and good order, he is doing all, or about all that he 
can do, — hesitates to urge home upon him the practicability 
and duty of immediate reconciliation to God, is ever fruitful 
in expedients to make matters easy with those well edu- 
cated and respectable people, who love the world and the 
things that are in the world, more than they love God. Such 
theology had crept into New England before the synod of 
1662. Such theology is the basis of its famous proposi- 
tions touching the subjects of baptism, and of every argument 
that was urged in defense of the scheme. In opposition to 
all those arguments, Mr. Davenport maintained that " worldly 
mindedness whereby men forsake and reject God and his 
covenant, to serve the world," was of itself an offense suffi- 
cient to debar all half-way covenanters from offering their 
children in baptism. " The rehgion of such," said he, " is 
no better than that of the Shechemites who took upon them 
the religion of the Jews, and were circumcised, only for 
worldly ends."* In the same strain, his good colleague, Mr. 

* Anotlier Essay, &c., 24. 



183 

Street, argued, "that such as have been baptized in the 
Church, and have hved under precious means and great hght, 
until they are married and have children, and all this while 
have neglected the main thing that doth concern them, which 
is, to believe, and upon their believing, personally and for 
themselves to take hold of the covenant, are under very great 
sin and offense,"* sufficient to exclude them, notwithstand- 
ing their own baptism in infancy, from all Church privileges. 
The operation of the half-way covenant was, to propagate 
and confirm the bad theology in which it originated ; and 
that bad theology, as it grew, promoted religious declension. 
It was indeed as Mr. Street said, "an uncouth way, and very 
unpleasant divinity." 

4. Besides the demoralizing effect of Indian wars, noticed 
in another connection, there was the constant excitement of 
great political agitations and changes, and the constant fear of 
losing all their dearly acquired liberties. These excitements 
and fears occupied the minds of the people, and combined 
with other influences to hinder the prosperity of religion. 
After the restoration of the monarchy, the whole British em- 
pire was, for a long course of years, in a state of alarm and 
distrust, and in the almost constant expectation of great and 
disastrous changes. Towards the close of the reign of King 
Charles II, the government made an attack on all the great 
municipal corporations of the kingdom, hating them as cita- 
dels of protestantism, and as examples of that freedom which 
it was determined to suppress. The charter of the city of 
London, after a formal trial and a most able defense, was 
taken away and declared to be forfeited, by a judgment of 
the court of king's bench. Most of the other great towns of 
England, in like manner, fell before the march of usurpation. 
Their charters were resumed; their democratic privileges 
were annihilated ; and they became, by the new constitu- 
tions that were given them, mere dependencies of the king, 

* Considerations, &c., 68. 



184 

All this while, Edward Randolph, the steady and invete- 
rate enemy of New England, was indefatigable in his efforts 
to destroy by the same process the charters of the colonies. 
What days of fear were those for the people of New Eng- 
land ! If their charters were taken away, — if they were re- 
duced to that abject dependence on the crown, to which their 
enemies designed to bring them, every thing that they loved 
and valued would be gone, and the great ends for which 
these colonies were planted would be defeated. Meanwhile 
all minds were perplexed, and all hearts troubled, with tales 
of popish plots, and the dread of popish ascendency. 

In 1684, the base, profligate, traitorous Charles II, died, 
seeking at the hands of popish priests some consolation amid 
the terrors of his death bed. He was succeeded by James 
II, his brother, a little less profligate, and not a little less plia- 
ble, who had been for years a conscientious, and therefore a 
bigotted papist. Immediately a new government was ap- 
pointed over Massachusetts, the charter of that colony having 
been taken away by a judicial sentence. In December, 1686, 
Sir Edmund Andross, who had previously been governor of 
New York, and who in that capacity had been known as of 
an arbitrary and selfish temper, landed at Boston with a com- 
mission from James II, as governor of New England ; and 
soon Massachusetts began to know what it was to be gov- 
erned by a tyrant. Randolph was made censor of the press. 
Nothing could be printed but with his license. The people 
were threatened that none but Episcopal ministers should be 
allowed to join persons in marriage. One of the meeting 
houses in Boston was occupied, against the remonstrance of 
those who owned it, for the service of the Church of Eng- 
land. The appointment of a day of public prayer, by several 
Churches in concert, was interfered with by the governor, 
who told them that they should meet at their peril, and that 
his soldiers should guard the doors of their meeting houses, 
to keep them away. The witness in a court, was compelled 
to swear by the superstitious and unbecoming form of kissing 
a book ; and any that scrupled the lawfulness of so doing. 



1S5 

were fined and imprisoned. There was but one judge of 
probate for the whole province, and he the governor, by 
whom, and by his clerics, the most exorbitant fees were ex- 
acted. All deeds and titles to land were held to be of no 
value ; and every man who had a farm or a house, must ac- 
quire a new title from the governor, which was not to be 
had without paying for it roundly. 

In Connecticut, however, the free government under the 
charter continued for nearly a year after the arrival of An- 
dross. But on the 31st of October, 1687, the General As- 
sembly of the colony being in session at Hartford, Sir Ed- 
mund Andross appeared at the head of a company of regular 
soldiers, and demanded their charter, declaring the govern- 
ment under it to be dissolved. The governor at that time 
was Robert Treat, of Mil ford,* who had with great bravery 
and ability commanded the forces of the colony in the war 
with Philip. He replied to the demand of Andross ; he rep- 
resented the labors, and sufferings, and the expense, by which 
the colonists had acquired and planted the country, and the 
blood and treasure by which they had defended it ; he ad- 
verted to what he had himself done and suffered ; he spoke 
of the pain with which they must surrender privileges, so 
dearly bought, and so long enjoyed. Evening stole over the 
Assembly, while the debate was prolonged. The invaluable 
charter, — invaluable to them in their weakness and inability 
to assert their inalienable liberties, — was brought in, and laid 
upon the table, soon to be formally surrendered. A multitude 
of the people had assembled, and were beholding, with stern 
countenances, that sad spectacle, the extinction of their lib- 
erty. Suddenly the lights are extinguished ; there is no 
confusion, no rush of the multitude, no uproar, — but when, 
after a moment of darkness, the candles arc lighted again, 
the charter has vanished. No discovery could be made of it, 



* The fact is creditable to the old New Haven colony, that it gave to Con- 
necticut two governors in succession, after the death of Gov. Winlhrop. 
The two were Lecte, and Treat. 

24 



186 

or of the hands by which it had been carried away.* An- 
dross, unable to chitch the precious document, was obhged to 
content himself with the simple suppression of the free gov- 
ernment, and a declaration that the colony was annexed to 
Massachusetts. His procedure was formally entered in the 
records, and "finis" was written at the bottom. Then 
Connecticut came under the same rule with New Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts, and Plymouth. Randolph in one of 
his letters boasted, that Andross and his council '*' were as 
arbitrary as the great Turk." Every thing was done on the 
principle that the spoils belong to the victors ; and all who 
saw the paralysis of industry and enterprise, and the gloom 
that settled down upon so many villages, felt that "when 
the wicked bearethrule the people mourn."f 

But in April, 1689, two years and a half after the arrival 
of Andross, the intelligence came to Boston, that William, 
the prince of Orange, had landed in England to restore the 
ancient liberties of the people. Immediately, without wait- 
ing to know the success of that enterprise, the people of Bos- 
ton and the vicinity rose in arms, seized the royal governor 
and his secretary, put them in prison, and called their old 
governor and his council to resume the government. On 
the ninth of May, at the usual time of the general election at 
Hartford, the charter came forth from its concealment in the 
old oak before the Wyllys house ; and the free government 
of Connecticut was reestablished as before the interruption. 

Amid such fluctuations and alarms, — such excitements of 
fear and hope in regard to secular and civil interests, — how 

* Tlie charter was carried away and concealed by Capt. Wadsworth of 
Hartford. After the revohUion in England, and the accession of William 
and Mary, as the charter of Connecticut had never been formally surren- 
dered, and as no judgment had been given in any court of law against it, it 
was still valid ; and while Massachusetts was obliged to obtain a new char- 
ter with limited privileges, Connecticut has ever enjoyed, (with the sole in- 
terruption of nineteen months under Andross,) the powers of self-govern- 
ment, as perfectly as at this moment. 

t Trumbull, I, 355 — 375. Dr. Trumbull's account of the usurpation of 
Andross, is one of the ablest passages in his two volumes. 



187 

could religion be expected so to revivcj as to throw off the 
oppression of other incumbrances ? 

In those days of slow but sure declension in morals and 
religion, the pastor here was not wanting in faithfulness or 
in wisdom. He was greatly respected in the colony, and 
was among the foremost of the ministers in every underta- 
king for the common welfare of the churches. 

In 1692, the ministers of this county united in proposing 
to the several towns a lecture to be carried on in the several 
towns, the great object of which was, " to further religion 
and reformation in these declining times."* In the same 
year, we find that there was a quarterly meeting of the min- 
isters for some public purpose, which Mr. Pierpont was to at- 
tend, and in attending upon which he was to be provided 
with a man and horse at the town's charge. 

The efforts at reformation in that age, throughout New 
England, seem to have been characterized by too much reli- 



* The entire record of the proceedings of the New Haven town meeting 
in respect to the proposal for a lecture, deserves to be copied ; for it iUus- 
tratcs both the state of morals, and the expedients adopted for promoting re- 
formation. 

" At an adjournment of the town meeting, the 2d day of May, 1692. 

" A proposal in writing, presented from the Rev. Elders of this county, for 
a lecture to be carried on in the several towns, was read and thankfully ac- 
cepted, and the conditions thereof well approved : and accordingly [it was] 
by the town seriously recommended to the authority, town officers, and heads 
of families, to take the utmost care they can to prevent all disorders, espe- 
cially on lecture days; and particularly, that there be no horse-racings on 
such days, it being a great disorder. And the heads of families are also to 
take care that none of their children or servants be allowed or suffered 
to frequent the ordinary or ordinaries, or any private houses for tipplino-, 
neither with strangers or others, on such lecture days, upon penalty of the 
law. 

" The town unanimously voted the above written as their mind, and desired 
their hearty thanks to be returned to the Rev. Elders for their pious and great 
care to further religion and reformation among us, in "these declining 
TIMES. Voted nemine contj-adicente." 

Young people making their attendance on the services of a lecture day a 
pretext for horse-racing and tippling ! And this so common, that tlie propo- 
sal to set up a new lecture must needs be guarded by proceedings in town 
meeting " to prevent disorders !" No wonder tiicy talked with emphasis 
of ■' these declining limes." 



188 

ance on the formal movements of public bodies, whether re- 
ligious, as synods, councils and Churches, or secular, as legis- 
latures, county courts and town meetings ; and by too little 
dependence on the power of God in the spiritual renovation 
of individuals. The "reforming synod" of 1679, with the 
expedients which it recommended — the many similar efforts 
by smaller conventions of ministers — the orders of courts and 
magistrates for the suppression of vice, or for the promotion 
of religion and reformation — the setting up of lectures — the 
votes of towns — and most of all, the efforts to get every body 
" within the reach of ecclesiastical discipline" — were of little 
avail. Good men saw the progressive declension, and be- 
wailed it ,• but there was no reviving and restoring energy.* 

In the year 1698, Mr. Pierpont, in connection with the 
Rev. Mr. Andrew of Milford and the Rev. Mr. Russel of Bran- 
ford, concerted the plan of founding a college ;f or rather they 
revived the design which lay so long upon the heart of Dav- 
enport, and upon which he expended so many earnest efforts, 
but the completion of which it was not given him to see 
in this world. There can be no doubt that those three men, 
contriving the establishment of a college for Connecticut, in- 
tended that it should be established in New Haven ; but they 
were magnanimous and wise enough not to connect the de- 
sign, at its first proposal, with any particular location. By 
much deliberation among themselves, and much consultation 
with others in various parts of the colony, their j)lan was 
gradually matured ; and in the course of the following year. 



* See Mather's whole chapter on the Relbrming Synod. Magn. Book V, 
Part IV. See also Trumbull, I, 467. A specimen of the interference of 
county courts with expedients for religious reformation, is found in the New 
Haven County Records, under the date of Nov. 8, 1676. 

" The County Court, being sensible of a hopeful advantage to the further- 
ance of religion and reformation, by settling an able lecture where it might 
be aptest and of the greatest concourse to attend the same, do recommend it, 
and desire the Rev. Mr. Elliot to begin a monthly lecture at New Haven .the 
first Wednesday in March next, and so continue until this Court siiall ap- 
point some other to succeed." 

t Trumbull, 1,473. 



189 

ten of the principal ministers in the colony were designated 
by the common consent of those most interested, to stand as 
trustees for founding and governing the institution. In 1700, 
those ministers met in this place, and formally organized 
themselves into a body or society to found a college in Con- 
necticut. The institution thus begun was temporarily placed 
at Saybrook, and had no settled habitation till it was removed 
to this place in the year 1716.* 

The activity of Mr. Pierpont, as one of the original trus- 
tees of Yale College, is evident not only from the early rec- 
ords of the institution, but also from letters written to him 
by the agent for the colony in London, whose good offices 
he had secured in aid of that favorite undertaking. His in- 
fluence seems to have been employed, in directing towards 
the college the regards of that benefactor, whose name it has 
made immortal.f 

In 170S, a synod, or general council of the Churches of 
Connecticut, was held at the College in Saybrook, by order 
of the legislature, for the purpose of forming a system that 
should better secure the ends of church discipline, and the 
benefits of communion among the Churches. The meeting 

^ Kingsley's History of Yale College. 

t The following paragraph is part of a letter to Mr. Pierpont, by Jeremiah 
Dumnier, Jim., then agent in London for the colony of Connecticut. The 
date is " London, 22d May, 1711." 

" Here is Mr. Yale, formerly Governor of Fort George in the Indies, who 
has got a prodigious estate, and now by Mr. Dixwell sends for a relation of 
his from Connecticut to make him his heir, having no son. He told me 
lately, that he intended to bestow a charity upon some college in Oxford, 
under certain restrictions which he mentioned. But I think he should much 
rather do it to your college, seeing he is a New England and I think a Con- 
necticut man. If therefore when his kinsman comes over, you will write 
him a proper letter on that subject, I will take care to press it home." 

In another letter, 23d January, 1712, he speaks of begging for College, and 
of having " got together a pretty parcel of books." 

In another letter, dated Whitehall, 3d May, 1713, he says, " Tiie library 
I am collecting for your College comes on well. Sir Richard Blackmore (to 
whom I delivered the committee's letter) brought me, in his own chariot, 
all his works, in four volumes folio; and Mr. Yale has done something, 
though very little considering his estate and his relation to the colony." 



190 

of that synod marks an important era in our ecclesiastical 
history. 

For a long time, indeed from the first, there had been in 
New England some influential ministers,* who disliked what 
was deemed the looseness and inefficiency of Congregation- 
alism, and were solicitous to introduce, as fast as the people 
would bear it, something more like the Presbyterian system. 
Not a few political men too, were in favor of some departure 
from the primitive platform, which did not seem to work 
well, while all were seeking to complete the alliance between 
the Churches and the State. And in truth simple Congrega- 
tionalism is, in its nature, very difficult to be wrought into a 
convenient and compact ecclesiastical establishment. Where 
each particular Church is recognized as a complete and self- 
subsistent body, with no constitution but the Bible, and no 
legislation over it but that of Jesus Christ, it is no easy matter 
to reduce the Churches into a complete subjection to the 
civil power, or to incorporate the ecclesiastical organization 
with the organization of the commonwealth. Protracted ex- 
perience had taught the leading politicians of Connecticut, 
that their legislative intermeddlings with ecclesiastical quar- 
rels, whether local or general, whether by clerical councils 
or by lay committees, was of little avail. The religious es- 
tablishment of the colony, — the propriety or policy of which, 
in the abstract, no man called in question, — was felt to be 
defective without another ecclesiastical constitution. 

At the same time, it is true that the system under which 
the Churches had been organized was in some respects im- 
perfect. The communion and mutual helpfulness of the 
Churches was not adequately secured. Light is obtained by 
conference, and love is promoted by fraternal consultation ; 
but there had been no provision for the stated consultation 
of ministers with each other, in order to their mutual im- 
provement ; nor was there sufficient opportunity for Churches 



* Mr. Parker and Mr. Noyes, the first pastor and teacher of the Church in 
Newbury, were decided in favor of the rresl)yiciian discipline. 



191 

to confer together by their ofRcers and messengers, on mat- 
ters of common interest, in order to their seeing alike and 
acting harmoniously. There was no uniform method of in- 
troducing candidates for the ministry, to the work of preach- 
ing for the trial of their qualifications. When a young man 
aspiring to the sacred office had finished his studies at Col- 
lege, he was commonly introduced into the pulpit first by his 
own pastor, or his instructor, or some other friend, and grad- 
ually found his way to the acquaintance and confidence of 
the Churches, without any formal examination, or any cer- 
tificate of approbation from an organized body of ministers. 
Such a way, however it might answer the purpose when the 
country was new, was not suited to the wants of the commu- 
nity at a more advanced period. 

Of the synod at Saybrook, Mr. Pierpont was a leading 
member. The " Articles for the administration of Church 
Disciphne," which were adopted as the result of the synod, 
and which constitute the so famous " Saybrook Platform," 
are said to have been drawn up by him.* By the order of 
the legislature, the ministers and delegates in each county, 
at the preliminary meeting at which their representatives 
were to be chosen for the General Council, were " to con- 
sider and agree upon those methods and rules for the man- 
agement of ecclesiastical discipline, which by them should 
be judged conformable to the word of God ;" and the duty 
of the General Council was, to " compare the results of the 
ministers of the several counties, and out of and from them 
to draw a form of ecclesiastical discipline." The ''Articles," 
by whomsoever penned, were obviously a compromise be- 
tween the Presbyterian interest and the Congregational ; and 
like most compromises, they were (I do not say by design) 
of doubtful interpretation. Interpreted by a Presbyterian, 
they might seem to subject the Churches completely to the 

* Stiles, Serm. on Chris. Union, 70. See also Dwight, Life of Ed., 113, 
where it is also stated, that Mr. Piorpont read lectures to the students in Vale 
College, as professor of Moral Philosophy. This is possible, though the Col- 
lege was not removed from Saybrook till after Mr. Pierpont's death. A son 
of his, bearing the same name, was tutor from 1722 to 1724. 



192 

authoritative government of classes or presbyteries, under 
the name of consociations. Interpreted by a Congregation- 
aUst, they might seem to provide for nothing more than a sta- 
ted council, in which neighboring Churches, voluntarily con- 
federate, should consult together, and the proper function of 
which should be not to speak imperatively, but, when regu- 
larly called, to " hold forth light" in cases of difficulty or per- 
plexity. The Churches, though they gradually came into 
the arrangement, were jealous of it ; and in this county, 
where the influence of Davenport in favor of the simplest 
and purest Congregationalism was still felt, they refused to 
adopt the Platform till they had put upon record their strict 
construction of it.* For the first half century or more, the 
Saybrook Platform made more quarrels than it healed. But 
in later years, the Congregational construction of its articles 
having become established by general usage, its working has 
been in a high degree salutary. Under this system, more 
than under any other, ministers and Churches are continually 
promoting each other's peace and strength.f 

Mr. Pierpont died in the midst of his usefulness, on the 
14th of November, 1714, at the age of fifty five years. His 
grave is one of those which are covered by this edifice.J 

* Records of Consociation. 

f The history of the synod of Saybrook is given by Trumbull, in its de- 
tails, I, 478—488. 

t Mr. Pierpont was of the younger branch of a noble family in England. 
It is believed, though the necessary legal proof appears to be wanting, that 
his son was the heir to the estates, and the now extinct title, of the earls of 
Kingston. iVIr. P. married Abigail Davenport, a grand-daughter of his prede- 
cessor in the pastoral office, on the 27th of October, 1691. A little more tlian 
three months afterwards, on the 3d of February, his wife was taken from 
him by death. She died, as tradition tells us, of a consumption caused by 
exposure to the cold on the Sabbath after her wedding, going to meeting ac- 
cording to the fashion of the time in her bridal dress. Two years afterwards, 
he was married at Hartford to Sarah Haynes, a grand-daughter of Governor 
Haynes, " by Lt. Col. Allen, Assistant, the 30th May, 1694." On the 7th of 
October, 1696, he was again bereaved. His second wife left one daughter, 
who bore the name of his first wife. He was married to Mary Hooker, a 
arand-daughter of the first pastor in Hartford, on the 26lh July, 1698. This 
lady, who survived him till November, 1740, was the mother of several chil- 
dren, one of whom, Sarah, became at an early age the wife of Jonathan Ed- 
wards, and was truly " a help meet for him." 



193 

That he was greatly distinguished and higlily honored in 
his day, is sufficiently manifest. His particular friend, Cot- 
ton Mather, says of him in the preface to a sermon which he 
had preached at Boston, in Mather's pulpit, and which was 
published at the request of the hearers, — He " has been a rich 
blessing to the Church of God." ''New Haven values him ; 
all Connecticut honors him. They have cause to do it." 
That we are not able to form so lively an idea of him as of 
Davenport, is partly because his life was shorter, and was less 
involved in scenes of conflict, and partly, no doubt, because 
his nature and the early discipline of Divine providence, 
had less fitted him to make himself conspicuous by the origi- 
nality and energy of his character, and to leave his image 
stamped with ineffaceable distinctness on the records of his 
times. 

In the pulpit, Mr. Pierpont was distinguished among his 
cotemporaries. His personal appearance was altogether pre- 
possessing. He was eminent in the gift of prayer.* His 
doctrine was sound and discriminating ; and his style was 
clear, lively and impressive, without any thing of the affected 
quaintness which characterized some of the most eminent 
men of that day. 



* If the following sentence in one of Dummer's letters to Mr. Pierpont, be 
called a compliment, it should be remembered that Duramer would not be 
likely to make such a compliment at random. " That little composure of 
Mr. Henry's about prayer, I the rather pitched upon, because he is as re- 
nowned for his gift in prayer in Great Britain, as 1 know you have always 
been in New England." 

In President Stiles' Literary Diary, (MS.) Sept. 25, 1777, I find the fol- 
lowing : " Rev. Daniel Rogers, jet. 70 et siipra told me, it was remarked of 
Mr. Cobbet, anciently a minister of Ipswich, (Mr. Rogers' native place,) that 
he was eminent for free prarjer — that the first ministers of New England, 
though they did not pray ex Uhro, yet went into each one his own form which 
he pursued with but little variation : and that it was a remark, that the min- 
isters of this century, and the present pastors, surpassed those of the last cen- 
tury with respect to free prayer. But I tliink for clear evangelical divinity 
they do not equal them." 

Cotton Mather gives, somewhere, a similar testimony; but I am not ablu, 
now, to turn to the passage. 

25 



194 

The only specimen of his preaching that remains to us, is 
the pubHshed sermon aheady mentioned. That sermon is 
from the text, (Psahn cxix, 116,) " Uphold me according to 
thy word, that I may live ; and let me not be ashamed of my 
hope ;" and, though it falls short of the originality and intel- 
lectual vigor which mark the performances of Davenport, it 
proves sufficiently that its author's eminence was not acci- 
dental. It discusses one of the most common, though ever 
one of the most serious and interesting subjects, — " False 
hopes of heaven ;" and the views which it presents, are the 
same views which are habitually urged upon you. That 
you may judge for yourselves as to the matter and style of 
his preaching, I transcribe a few passages. 

""Whatever other regards we bear and manifest to Jesus 
Christ, this only and mighty Savior, if we have not faith in 
him, the root of our hope as well as other graces, all our 
flourishing hopes of a future happiness will fall and fly from 
us, as leaves in autumn. Nothing can be more express and 
positive, than what the Author of everlasting life has with 
his own sacred lips uttered, John, iii, 36 : ' He that believeth 
not the Son, shall not see life : but the wrath of God abideth 
on him.' The tremendous effusion of divine wrath is sus- 
pended for a few fleeting, uncertain moments ; when they 
are run out, it shall be inevitably showered down upon every 
one that believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son 
of God. See also, John, viii, 24 : ' For if ye believe not that 
I am he, ye shall die in your sins ;' and so die without hope, 
perish for ever, in the want of a Christ, and faith in him. 
You may observe what the great apostle of the Gentiles most 
plainly and solemnly offers on this head, 2 Cor. xiii, 5 : ' Ex- 
amine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own 
selves: Know ye not your own selves?' (q, d. ye know no- 
thing as Christians, if ye know not this great truth,) 'how 
that Christ Jesus is in you,' (viz. by faith, apprehending him, 
and deriving grace and strength from hnn into your souls,) 
' except ye be reprobates :' i. e. in the state of the ungodly, and 



195 

in the way that leads to final despair and everlasting destruc- 
tion." 

" Great hazards are much to be feared, and imminent dan- 
gers are greatly to be deprecated ; our danger of resting in 
ill-grounded hopes, is inconceivably great. 

1. From our natural strong propension most fondly to em- 
brace hope, let the kinds or grounds thereof be as they are. 
If hope be but deferred, it makes the heart sick ; but if hope 
be cut off, we hasten to die. Who of us would be content 
to breathe an hour longer, if we had no hope for this or a fu- 
ture life ? 

2. From a criminal slightiness in the grounds of our hope 
for future blessedness, which we are sadly incident to. Too 
many of us content ourselves with hopes of going to heaven 
when we die, which have not so much as a shadow of good 
grounds. The reason of such persons' hope, if plainly ren- 
dered, would appear most inconsistent with this Word, and 
with good reason itself. Deut. xxix, 19 : • I shall have peace, 
though I walk in the imagination of mine heart.' 

3. From inordinate self-love, and from thence self-flattery. 
When in our first apostacy, we left God, and lost our good 
affection to him, we then fell into a criminal love of our- 
selves. When we desisted adoring and praising our glorious 
Maker, we then began fondly to admire and flatter ourselves : 
hence we cannot easily be brought to entertain low and mean 
thoughts of ourselves, or to realize to our own minds the 
misery we are naturally exposed to. We cannot think we 
are enemies to God, or he is such to us-ward ; we know not 
how to receive it, that our souls, remaining unconverted, 
shall be banished from the presence of God, from the expe- 
rience of all good ; that these very bodies and souls shall be 
ere long made the flaming monuments of unutterable and 
everlasting wrath ; that a gracious God and our merciful Ma- 
ker can ever find it in his heart to show us no mercy, when 
with bitter outcries, heart-breaking shrieks, wringing hands, 
floods of tears, and bleeding hearts, we shall at the bar of 
Justice appeal to and implore his infinite commiseration. 



19G 

Our irregular self-love and flattery tell us, when the terrors of 
God's unappeasable wrath are set before us, ' These things 
shall not be unto you ! We hope and cannot but hope better 
things some way or other shall happen to you.' And thus we 
incline ' to flatter ourselves, until our iniquity be found to be 
hateful.' Psalm xxxvi, 2. 

4. Our dangers herein spring also from the mistaken opin- 
ion, or cologne of others with whom we converse. We live 
in a fawning, flattering world ; our friends and neighbors, 
whatever they think, may speak well of us, nay, oft-times 
much better than we have deserved ; and it may be, that 
they might the more easily serve themselves and their inter- 
ests by us : whence we are liable to take up a good opinion 
of ourselves, and to form a hope we are as good as they re- 
port. Yea, godly people and able ministers of the gospel, not 
knowing our hearts, or the secrets of our lives, upon many 
outward appearances, judge well of us, hold us in reputation 
for Christians, nay, for shining saints. Whence we are prone 
to value ourselves, and to feed up hope, that we are the wise 
virgins, have oil enough in our vessels, and shall not (on the 
most surprising call) fail of a joyful entrance into heaven j 
when truly the way of peace we have never yet known. 

5. From the artifices of Satan, that crafty seducer. As 
he goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking by many vio- 
lences to devour men ; so he crawls as a sly serpent, de- 
signing men's destruction, by innumerable devices ; among 
which, he doth his utmost to flatter or lull silly souls into an 
ill-grounded hope ; persuading them they are in the safe road 
to heaven, when truly they are sliding down apace into the 
dungeons of eternal darkness and perdition. 

6. From the tremendous righteous judgment of God, our 
dangers of taking up with false hopes of heaven may arise. 
For great reasons and high provocations, God doth leave some 
to build their hopes high, who are the children of greatest 
wrath. Read instances hereof with much fear and trem- 
bling: Isaiah, vi, 9, 10. 2 Thess. ii, 10, 11, 12. 'God shall 



197 

send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, 
that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, 
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' "* 

Such was the preaching inculcated upon the fathers and 
predecessors of this congregation, five generations ago. What- 
ever else has changed since then, the gospel has not changed. 
You are witnesses that here Christ is now set forth as the 
great object of the repenting sinner's faith, — Christ, as the 
sinner's only hope, — '' Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever." 



* The title of the pamphlet from which these specimens are taken, is, 
" Sundry False Hopes of Heaven, discovered and decried. In a sermon 
preached at the North Assembly in Boston, 3. d. 4. m. 1711. By James 
Pierpont, M. A. Pastor of New Haven Church. With a Preface by the 
Rd. Dr. Mather."—" Boston in N. E. Printed : sold by T. Green, at his shop 
in Middle street. 1712." 



DISCOURSE X. 

FROM 1714 TO 1740.^- JOSEPH NOYES. " THE GREAT REVIVAL" 

OF PRESIDENT EDWARDs's DAY. 

IIabakkuk, iii, 2. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. 

We come now to a portion of oiir history in some respects 
more difficult to be treated than any which we have hereto- 
fore examined. The age which succeeded the ministry 
of Mr. Pierpont, was an age of more controversy in the 
Churches, of greater errors and extravagances, of fiercer 
contention, and of more alarming agitation, than can be 
found in any other period of the history of New England. 
In all the emergencies of that age, our predecessors here had 
their full share of agitation and of peril. And though the 
fires which then burned so fiercely, seem to have burned 
out, he who walks among the ashes needs to walk circum- 
spectly, lest he tread upon embers which are covered indeed, 
but not extinguished. The grandchildren, and in some in- 
stances the children, of those who acted in the scenes we are 
now to review, are still upon the stage ; and their feelings 
towards those whom they regard with a natural veneration, 
may not be rudely invaded. Another Church, now happily 
associated with this so intimately as hardly to be another, 
came into being here amid those convulsions ; and to enter 
into that history, to trace the errors of one party and of the 
other, however impartial the design, and however beneficial 
the legitimate tendency, may be dangerous, if there is any 
lack of discretion on the part of the speaker, or of candor on 
the part of the hearers. 

The age of the ministry of Mr. Pierpont, has already been 
described, as an age of gradual declension throughout New 
England. Some of the causes of the declension have been 
pointed out — causes which, though continually counteracted 
by the ability and faithfulness of the great body of the min- 



199 

isters, were perpetually working to secularize the Churches, 
and to demoralize society. The same causes continued to 
Avork through the following age, and had much to do with 
the contentions and disasters that accompanied or followed 
what is so commonly spoken of as the great revival of 1742. 

The Church was not long vacant after the death of Mr. 
Pierpont, which took place in November, 1714. On the first 
of July, in the following year, " at a meeting of the First 
Society," which is the first meeting on record under that 
name,* — " after some discourse, the votes were brought in, 
in writing, to nominate a man to carry on the work of the 
ministry on probation." In this proceeding, an omen appears 
of what was to follow. The people were divided in their 
preferences. " Mr. Joseph Noyes was chosen by the major 
vote, he having eighty six votes, and Mr. Cooke forty five 
votes." Mr. Cooke, the opposing candidate, was afterwards 
pastor of the Church in Stratfield, now Bridgeport, and be- 
came somewhat distinguished in the conflicts of the age, as 
a zealous opponent of the party with which Mr. Noyes was 
identified. It may be presumed, that when they were both 
young, and the preferences of the people of New Haven were 
divided between them, the difterence in their characters was 
essentially the same as afterwards. Mr. Cooke, we may sup- 
pose, was, of the two candidates, the more fervent and pun- 
gent in the pulpit, and the more impetuous in his measures ; 
Mr. Noyes, the more discreet in counsel, the more cautious in 
his statements, and the more scholarlike in his studied per- 
formances. 

The old habit of proceeding deliberately in so great a mat- 
ter as the settlement of a minister, was not yet laid aside. In 
September, two months after the call to preach on probation, 
the society voted their approbation of Mr. Noyes's labors, " so 
far as they had experienced the same," and engaged to give 

* East Haven, North Haven, and perhaps West Haven, had been erected 
into distinct parishes or " ecclesiastical societies ;" but the records of tlie 
First Society, as distinct from the town, commenced only at llic date above 
mentioned. 



200 

him, while he should labor in the ministry among them, " one 
hundred and twenty pounds per annum in money, or in grain 
and flesh" at certain prices, and two hundred pounds in the 
same pay, as a settlement.* In December, the Church pro- 
ceeded to declare their good acceptance of his labors, and to 
invite him to settle among them. He was ordained on the 
4th of July, iriG.f 

Mr. Noyes was greatly recommended and aided at his in- 
troduction to the ministry, by the celebrity of his father and 
grandfather ; for in those days a young man's parentage was 
of more consequence than it is now. He was the son of the 
Rev. James Noyes of Stonington, whose father, James Noyes, 
was one of the original settlers of Massachusetts, and the 
first teacher of the Church in Newbury. Mr. Noyes of Ston- 
ington was, in his day, one of the leading ministers of the 
colony, greatly respected for his wisdom and his piety. He 
was " a distinguished preacher, carrying uncommon fervor 
and heavenly zeal into all his public performances. His or- 
dinary conversation breathed the spirit of that world to which 
he was endeavoring to guide his fellow men. In ecclesiasti- 
cal controversies he was eminently useful." " He was also 
counsellor in civil affairs, at some critical periods. "J He was 
selected to be one of the first trustees and founders of the 
College ; for though he was then an old man, and in a remote 
corner of the colony, his influence was deemed essential to 
the success of the undertaking. His son Joseph was a mem- 
ber of the class which graduated in 1709, while the Cohege 

* The prices at which Mr. Pierpont's salary of £120 was to be made 
up, as fixed in 1697, were as follows : Winter wheat at 55 the bushel ; 
rye 3s 6(/ ; corn 2s 6d ; peas 3^ 6c/ ; pork 3 1-4(1 the pound ; and beef 3d. 
The stipulated prices at which Mr. Noyes was to receive the grain and flesh 
of his salary were " as foUoweth : wheat at 45 6fZ per bushel, rye at 2* 8d, 
Indian corn at 2*; pork at 2 l-2f/ per pound, beef at 1 ]-2rf, — the grain and 
flesh to be good and merchantable." If Mr. Noyes's salary was worth more 
than his predecessor's, his £200 settlement was probably worth much less 
than Mr. Pierpont's home-lot and house and his one hundred and fifty acres 
of land. 

t Church Records, and Records of Society. 

t Allen, Biog. Diet. 



201 

was under the presidency of the Rev. Mr. Andrew of Milford, 
the inferior classes being instructed at Saybrook by the tu- 
tors, and the senior class residing with the rector at Mil- 
ford. The class of 1709, was by far the largest that had ever 
gone forth from the institution. It consisted of nine mem- 
bers, five of whom became ministers of the gospel. 

Within a year after receiving his first degree, Mr. Noyes, 
then about twenty two years of age, became a tutor in the 
College, where he continued till he came here as a candidate 
for the pastoral ofRce.* A few months after his ordination, 

" President Stiles says, " After the death of Rector Pierson, and while the 
College was at Saybrook, and destitute of a resident Rector, the Rev. Phine- 
has Fisk, and the Rev. Joseph Noyes, were the pillar tutors and the glory of 
the College. Their tutorial renown was then great and excellent, although 
now almost lost." — Serm. on the death of Mr. Whittelsey, 25. In his Lit. 
Diary, for 1779, March 18th, Dr. S. speaks of examining Mr. Noyes's manu- 
scripts, and says, " From Rector Pierson's death, till the removal of the Col- 
lege to New Haven, Mr. Fisk and Mr. Noyes were very eminent and cardi- 
nal tutors, far beyond any other. After Mr. Fisk left it, the headship devolved 
upon Mr. Noyes, who was in the tutorship five years. So that he was per- 
fectly acquainted with College affairs." 

Dr. Stiles transfers to the pages of his diary the following letter, which 
may interest some lovers of antiquity. 

" Rcvnd. Sir, — I purposed to wait on you and to be our epistle to yourself; 
but many things prevent, especially Mr. Russel's absence. We content our- 
selves in sending one of the candidates to bear this epistle, which is to in- 
form you, Revnd. Sir, that on Thursday of this week according to the cus- 
tom of this school, the candidates were proved and approved, — present, Mr. 
Noyes of Lyme, the Rev. Mr. Ruggles, as also the Rev. Mr. Hart, Mr. Fisk, 
Mr. Mather, &c. Our request is that you would, Revnd. Sir, appoint them 
the conmiencement work. Moreover, it being granted at a meeting of the 
trustees, and recorded that candidates in this school may print theses and a 
catalogue as in other schools, we and they humbly request yourself would 
take the trouble to examine the theses and catalogue presented to you by the 
bearer ; — please to insert or reject theses as you please. It is also our humble 
request that yourself would give the theses a dedication. Students are all in 
health. We always, Revnd. Sir, request your prayers, knowing our charge 
is great. Our duty waits on Madam Andrew. We shall not add, but the 
offering of our humble service to yourself, testifying that we are your 
Very humble and obedient servant, 

Jos. NnvKS. 
Saybrook, July 26, 1714. 

To the Revnd. Mr. Samuel Andrew, Rector of the Collegiate School in 
Coniiocticut. ' 

26 



202 

the College was removed from Saybrook to New Haven. 
The land on which the first College edifice was erected, at 
the corner of College and Chapel streets, was previously the 
property of this Church, and was sold by the Church to the 
trustees of the collegiate school, "for twenty six pounds cur- 
rent money."* 

For the first twenty years, and more, after Mr. Noyes's or- 
dination, there is no evidence that his ministry was not as 
acceptable and prosperous as that of his predecessor. Dr. 
Dana, who was partly contemporary with him, and who 
knew him personally, testifies that during all that period, the 
Church was harmonious and happy under his ministry. f To 
the same effect his colleague and immediate successor, Mr. 
Whittelsey, testifies that during that period, the Church, 
"enjoyed much peace, dwelt together in love and good or- 
der, great numbers being added thereto year by year."! Yet 
he did not preach, during those years, to a congregation in 
which there was no piety, or no superior intelligence. All 
the instructors and students of the College were under his 
pastoral care. He had among his hearers, successively, such 
men as the presidents Cutler, Williams and Clap. Such men 
too as Samuel Johnson, afterwards the father of the Episco- 
pal Churches in Connecticut, Jonathan Edwards, Eleazar 
Wheelock, Aaron Burr, and Joseph Bellamy, sat under his 
preaching, enjoyed communion with the Church under his 
administrations, and left no record of their dissatisfaction, that 
has come down to us. 

Meanwhile the colony was slowly spreading itself over its 
vacant territory : and, in the face of many obstacles, its pop- 
ulation and wealth were gradually increasing. The counties 
of Litchfield and Windham were in that age, not unlike what 



* Churcli Records. This was land given to tiie Church, by Mrs. Hester 
Coster. Mr. Hooke's lot was alienated to the trustees, to be the site of the 
Rector's house. The vote of the trustees to remove the school to New Ha- 
ven, was on the condition that these two lots sliould be obtained for the uses 
specified. 

t Sermon on the eighteenth century. + MS. 



203 

Illinois and Wisconsin are now, the remote wilderness where 
hardy enterprise contended with rude nature, and whither 
the adventurous emigrant turned his steps, hoping to find a 
home for his posterity. Efforts in England, to take away 
the charter and liberties of the colony, were renewed from 
time to time, keeping the people continually alarmed and 
agitated with the thought of losing all that they held dear. 
Wars with the Indians in the easternmost parts of New Eng- 
land, in which Connecticut, though remote from the danger, 
bore her full part by contributions of men and treasure, helped 
to demoralize, spreading the vices of military life through 
the puritan and rustic population. A tiuctuatnig currency, 
the depreciation of the bills of credit which were issued to 
meet the expense of wars, and of constant vigilance and de- 
fense in England to maintain their chartered liberties, had a 
disastrous effect not only on business and general prosperity, 
but, what is of far more consequence, on morals, and against 
the influence of religion. 

The Churches too, throughout New England, had gene- 
rally adopted the opinion first asserted by the excellent and 
venerated Stoddard of Northampton, that the Lord's supper 
is a converting ordinance, and that men of decent outward 
deportment, professing to be seekers after the grace of God, 
but with no experience of the power of the gospel, and no 
pretensions to spiritual religion, may with perfect propriety 
be received to full communion. And in Connecticut the 
" ecclesiastical constitution," as it was caUed, or confedera- 
tion of the Churches under the Saybrook articles, which as 
at first explained, and as now understood in practice, implies 
nothing inconsistent with the original Congregationalism of 
New England, was, by a series of little usurpations, acquir- 
ing more and more of the form and spirit of the worst kind 
of Presbyterianism. The Churches, for whose liberty and 
purity the country Avas planted, had lost in a measure both 
purity and liberty. They were brought continually more 
and more under the absolute power of the civil state. The 
parishes being established by law, and minorities, however 



204 

dissatisfied or indignant, having no right of secession, except 
by attaching themselv^es to some other denomination, the 
rights and feehngs of minorities were sometimes treated, both 
by parishes and by ordaining councils, with contempt. Tlie 
minister, when once settled, being in a great degree inde- 
pendent of his people, was under strong temptations to indo- 
lence in his studies, and to an inefficient and perfunctory 
manner of performing his duties. The wonder is, that in 
these circumstances, the ministry and the Churches did not 
sink together into such an apostacy as was at that very time 
taking place in the Lutheran and Reformed Churches of Eu- 
rope. God remembered his covenant with the fathers, and 
would not forsake the children. 

The year 1735 is commonly regarded as the commence- 
ment of that great religious excitement and revival, in New 
England, which made the middle of the last century so mem- 
orable in the history of our Churches. Occasional and local 
revivals of religion — seasons of awakening and ingathering 
in particular churches, had not been uncommon in New 
England, nor have they ever been uncommon in any country 
in which the gospel has been faithfully preached. But in 
the year 1735, there was a signal work of the grace of 
God in the town of Northampton, which was then blessed 
with the ministry of Jonathan Edwards. It began there 
without any extraordinary circumstances to awaken the at- 
tention of the people, or any extraordinary arrangements or 
efforts on the part of the minister. The young people of the 
place had for two or three years shown an increased sobriety 
in some respects, and an increased disposition to receive 
religious instruction. There had been, from time to time, 
instances of strong religious impression and of hopeful reno- 
vation. But in the latter part of December, 1734, five or six 
persons, one after another, became very suddenly the subjects 
of that grace of God which creates the soul anew. Among 
these was a young woman distinguished for her gaiety in 
youthful society, — " one of the greatest company-keepers in 
the whole town," — who came to the pastor, with a broken 



205 

heart and a contrite spirit, and with faith and hope in the 
Savior of sinners, before any one had heard of her Ijeing at 
all impressed with serious things. The sudden, yet, as time 
proved, real conversion of this young woman, was the power 
of God striking the electric chain of religious sympathies, 
that had imperceptibly, but effectually encircled all the fami- 
lies of Northampton. Mr. Edwards says in his " Narrative," 
" The news of it seemed to be almost like a flash of light- 
ning upon the hearts of young people all over the town, and 
upon many others." " Presently a great and earnest concern 
about the great things of religion and the eternal world, be- 
came universal in all parts of the town, and among persons 
of all degrees and all ages. All talk but about spiritual and 
eternal things was soon thrown by ; all the conversation in 
all companies was upon these things only, except so much 
as was necessary for people carrying on their ordinary secular 
business. The minds of people were wonderfully taken off 
from the world : it was treated among us as a thing of very 
little consequence. All would eagerly lay hold of opportu- 
nities for their souls, and were wont very often to meet to- 
gether in private houses for religious purposes : and such 
meetings when appointed were generally thronged. Those 
who were wont to be the vainest and loosest, and those who 
had been most disposed to think and speak slightly of vital 
and experimental religion, were now generally subject to 
great awakening. And the work of conversion was carried 
on in a most astonishing manner, and increased more and 
more. From day to day, for many months together, might 
be seen evident instances of sinners brought out of darkness 
into marvellous light. In the spring and summer following, 
the town seemed to be full of the presence of God, it was 
never so full of love, and yet so full of distress, as it was then. 
It was a time of joy in families, on accoimt of salvation being 
brought to them ; parents rejoicing over their children as new 
born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their 
husbands. The goings of God were then seen in his sanc- 
tuary, God's day was a delight, and his tabernacles were 



206 

amiable. Our public assemblies were then beautiful ; the 
congregation was alive in God's service, every one eagerly 
intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in 
the words of the minister as they come from his mouth. 
The assembly were, from time to time, in tears, while the 
word was preached ; some weeping with sorrow and distress, 
others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for 
their neighbors."* 

But that which was newest and most remarkable about 
this work of God's grace, was that it was not a local awak- 
ening. That which I have recited from Edwards's Narra- 
tive, is only a specimen of what was going forward at the 
same time, not only in the neighboring towns of Massachu- 
setts, but still more extensively in Connecticut, and even in 
some parts of New Jersey. This Church shared in that first 
general revival. In the Narrative from which I have already 
quoted, and which was written in 1736, Mr. Edwards says, 
" There was a considerable revival of religion last summer at 
New Haven, old town, as I was once and again informed by 
the Rev. Mr. Noyes, the minister there, and by others. And 
by a letter which I very lately received from Mr. Noyes, and 
also by information we have had otherwise, this flourishing 
of religion still continues, and has lately much increased. 
Mr. Noyes writes that many this summer have been added 
to the Church, and particularly mentions several young per- 
sons that belong to the principal families of that town."f 
One of the persons brought under the power of religion during 
the progress of that revival in this Church, was Aaron Burr, 
afterwards President of the College of New Jersey, who was 
then pursuing his studies here as a resident graduate.."}: 

The awakening of 1735, here and elsewhere, was followed 
by several years of comparative declension ; though it could 
not be denied, that great and abiding reformations were made, 
in those places which had been so remarkably visited. 

* Works, (Dwight's ed.) IV, 22. I have abrirlgcd the language of Ed- 
wards. 

t Ibid, 26. t Alleiij Biog. Dictionary. 



207 

111 the year 1739, the Rev. George Whitefield, whose fame 
was ah-eady great in England, where he preached his first 
sermon in June, 1736, — and in the infant colony of Georgia, 
which he had visited in 1738, — came for the second time to 
America. He arrived at Philadelphia in November ; and af- 
ter preaching there and at New York, and at a number of 
places in New Jersey, just long enough to be heard by thou- 
sands with unmingled and enthusiastic admiration, he pro- 
ceeded through the southern colonies, where he labored amid 
great excitement, and with great success, till the last of Au- 
gust, 1740. Then at the earnest invitation of some of the 
ministers of Boston, he embarked at Charleston for New 
England, where another revival had already commenced, far 
more extensive, and in respect to the strength of excitement, 
far more powerful, than that which had been enjoyed five 
years before. The town of Boston, however, notwithstand- 
ing the earnest endeavors of the ministers there, had remained 
unaffected. The fame of Whitefield prepared the people of 
that place to receive him with awakened curiosity. The 
liberality of his Christian feelings, and the strangeness of his 
position — a minister of the Church of England, venerating 
the piety of the Puritans, seeking to walk in their steps, and 
giving the right hand of fellowship, without reserve, to all 
the followers of Christ — propitiated their good will. His pe- 
culiar style of oratory, depending for its power far more upon 
imagination, fervor, pathos, voice and gesture, than upon ar- 
gument, riveted their attention to those simple and familiar 
truths which had been a thousand times inculcated upon them 
in vain. He preached to crowded thousands, not only in all 
the meeting houses, but upon the common. He made ex- 
cursions into the adjacent country, preaching as he traveled, 
at the rate of sixteen sermons in a week. It was supposed 
that at his last sermon in Boston, when he took his leave of 
the town, he had not less than twenty thousand hearers. 
The excitement, thus begun, did not subside when the im- 
mediate occasion of it was removed. Boston was at that 
time blessed with the revival of true religion. 



208 

On Thursday, the 23d of October, Mr. Whitefield, having 
visited Mr. Edwards at Northampton, where he spent several 
days, arrived at New Haven. Here he was entertained at 
the house of Mr. James Pierpont, the brother in law of Mr. 
Edwards and Mr. Noyes. The legislature of the colony be- 
ing in session, he remained till after the Lord's day ; '' and 
had the pleasure of seeing numbers daily impressed" under 
his daily ministrations in the old polygonal meeting house. 
Several ministers of the vicinity visited him, " with whose 
pious conversation he was much refreshed." Good old Gov- 
ernor Talcott, on whom with due politeness, he waited to 
pay his respects, said to him, " Thanks be to God for such 
refreshings in our way to heaven."* 

The great religious awakening wliich was then in pro- 
gress throughout New England, was accompanied with 
many errors and extravagances. We have heard much, and 
some of us have seen something, of the extravagances and 
enthusiasm connected with religious excitements at the pres- 
ent day ; but nothing in our day, — whether "new meas- 
ures," or " Finneyism," or " Burchardism," or by whatever 
name of terror you may choose to call it, — nothing that has 
had place within the pale of the Presbyterian and Congrega- 
tional communion, can be represented as equal to the heats 
and disorders of the great revival of 1740-41. And the great 
reason is, the revivals of our day do not find the Churches, 
or the country, in so low and unprepared a state as did the 
revivals of that day. There is now a more intelligent and 
skillful ministry ; the word of God is better understood ; the 
nature of true piety is better understood ; the differences be- 
tween genuine and false religious experience, are more clearly 
and commonly apprehended ; and, what is of equal conse- 
quence, the various methods and processes by which the re- 
newing Spirit actually leads the minds of men to repentance 
and to holiness, have been more extensively and carefully 
observed. It were indeed a shame to the Churches and a 

* Trumbull, II, 153. 



209 

reproach to the gospel itself, if ministers and Churches had 
learned nothing from the revival of 1740, with its blessings 
and its incidental evils, and nothing from the many similar 
visitations of Divine mercy between that day and the present. 

One of the first symptoms of disorder, was the springing up 
of a corps of lay exhorters, untaught, uncalled, self-sent, who 
usurped the function of preaching the gospel, and brought 
themselves into collision with the instituted ministry and the 
organized Churches. 

Another alarming indication was seen, in a disposition to 
follow not truth nor reason, nor any rule of conduct, but 
inward impulses, — a disposition which was naturally accom- 
panied with a pretended power of knowing the state of men's 
hearts by some spiritual instinct, quicker and surer than the 
old process of inferring the state of the heart from the com- 
plexion of the life. 

Another phenomenon of the times, was the appearance of 
a class of itinerating ministers, who either having no charge 
of their own, or without special call forsaking their proper 
fields of labor, went up and down in the land, making their 
own arrangements and appointments, and operating in ways 
which tended more to disorganize than to build up the 
Churches. I do not mean such men as Wheelock, Pomeroy, 
Bellamy, and Edwards himself, who went where they were 
invited, and calculated to demean themselves every where 
with Christian courtesy and propriety, and whose preaching 
wherever they went, — certainly that of the two latter, — was 
much better than the preaching of Whitefield, for every pur- 
pose but popular excitement. I mean those men of far inferior 
qualifications who, moved by an unbalanced excitement, or 
by the ambition of making a noise, or by the irksomeness of 
regular and steady toil, " shot madly" from their appropriate 
spheres if they had any, and went wherever they could find 
or force a way among the Churches, spreading as they went, 
denunciation, calumny, contention, spiritual pride, and con- 
fusion. 

27 



210 

These things were signs, not of the revival of religion, but 
of its decay. Enthusiasm in religion, — the predominance of 
imagination and blind unthinking impulse over the soberness 
of truth, and thought, and conscience, — may coexist for a sea- 
son with the revival of religion, — is even, in a sense, and to 
some extent, inseparable from a great religious awakening ; 
yet it always indicates the presence and the power of the en- 
emy ; and where it spreads, and bears down all before it, 
there the enemy triumphs. Over-doing, says Baxter, is the 
Devil's way of undoing. 



DISCOURSE XI. 

EXTRAVAGANCES AND CONFUSION. THE NEW HAVEN CHURCH 

DIVIDED. MR. NOYES IN HIS OLD AGE. 

1 CoK. i, 13.— Is Christ divided ? 

At the time of Whitefield's first visit to this place in 1740, 
Mr. Noyes was in the 25th year of his ministry, and in the 
49th year of his age. No doubt of his piety or orthodoxy, 
and no complaint against his ministry, appears to have found 
public utterance. But soon afterwards an opposition was or- 
ganized against him, which not only resulted in a large 
secession from the Church, but involved all the evening of 
his life in storm and conflict. 

Whitefield began his career in England, where it was not, 
and never had been, a breach of charity or candor, to say 
that not a few of the clergy on whom the people depended 
for religious instruction, were entirely ignorant of the power 
of religion. It is much better there at this day ; but even 
now there are not a few, among the clergy of the established 
Church, who take up the ministry as a profession, not only 
from the lowest and most mercenary motives, but even with- 
out the decency of hypocrisy. It was perfectly natural, 
therefore, for Whitefield, in his preaching, to speak strongly 
against unconverted ministers. Whether this was wise, even 
in England, may be doubted. But when he came into this 
country, where every minister was both by the most solemn 
profession on his own part, and by the most solemn recogni- 
tion on the part of the Churches, a man renewed by the Spirit 
of God, and where any good evidence of a minister's being 
unrenewed would be a suflicient reason for deposing him 
from office, — it was impossible that strong and sweeping de- 
clarations against unconverted ministers, could answer any 
good purpose. Unconverted ministers there doubtless were, 
even in New England; but Whitefield erred in spreading sus- 



212 

picion among the ardent and impetuous, respecting the piety 
of their pastors. The effect on the people, was bad ; the ef- 
fect on the pastors whose piety was called in question, was 
bad ; and the effect on the itinerants who would fain follow 
in Whitefield's footsteps, was worst of all. 

One of the earliest and most distinguished of these itiner- 
ants, was the Rev. James Davenport, a son of the Rev. John 
Davenport of Stamford, and great grandson of the first pastor 
of this Church. This man, having been educated at Yale 
College, where he graduated in 1732, had been for several 
years settled in the pastoral office at Southold on Long 
Island, and had been esteemed a pious, sound, and faithful 
minister. But in the general religious excitement of 1740, 
he was carried away by enthusiastic impulses, and without 
asking the approbation or consent of his people, set out upon 
an itineracy among the Churches, leaving his own particular 
charge unprovided for. Wherever he went, he caused much 
excitement and much mischief. His proceedings were con- 
stantly of the most extravagant character. Endowed with 
some sort of eloquence, speaking from a heart all on fire, and 
accustomed to yield himself without reserve to every enthu- 
siastic impulse, he was able to produce a powerful effect, 
upon minds prepared, by constitution or by prejudice, to sym- 
pathize with him. His preaching was with the greatest 
strength of voice, and with the most violent gesticulation ; it 
consisted chiefly of lively appeals to the imagination and the 
nervous sensibilities, and, in the mimicry, or pantomime, with 
which he described things absent or invisible as if they were 
present to the senses, he appears to have been more daring, if 
not more powerful, than Whitefield himself He would make 
nervous hearers feel as if he knew all the secret things of 
God, speaking of the nearness of the day of judgment like 
one from whom nothing was hidden. He would work upon 
their fancy, till they saw, as with their eyes, the agony, and 
heard, as with their ears, the groans of Calvary, and felt as 
the popish enthusiast feels when, under the spell of music, 
he looks upon the canvas alive with the agony of Jesus. 



213 

He would so describe the surprise, consternatiou, and despair 
of the damned, with looks and screams of horror, that those 
who were capable of being moved by such a representation, 
seemed to see the gate of hell set open, and felt as it were the 
hot and stifling breath of the pit, and the " hell-flames flash- 
ing in their faces." And if by such means he could cause 
any to scream out, he considered that as a sign of the special 
presence of the Holy Spirit, and redoubled his own exer- 
tions, till shriek after shriek, bursting from one quarter and 
another in hideous discord, swelled the horrors of the scene. 
In one instance it is recorded of him as follows, — and this I 
suppose to be an exaggerated description of the manner in 
which he ordinarily proceeded at the close of his sermon, 
when he found suflicient encouragement in the state of his 
audience. " After a short prayer, he called for all the dis- 
tressed persons (who were near twenty) into the foremost 
seats. Then he came out of the pulpit, and stripped ofl' his 
upper garments, and got up into the seats, and leaped up and 
down some time, and clapped his hands, and cried out in 
these words, ' The war goes on, the fight goes on, the Devil 
goes down, the Devil goes down,' and then betook himself to 
stamping and screaming most dreadfully."* 

It is hardly necessary to add of such a man, that he was 
exceedingly presumptuous and censorious, in pro)iouncing 
judgment upon the character and state of all who refused to 
countenance his proceedings. He not only awakened sus- 
picion of ministers, by throwing out in his sermons vague and 
ambiguous insinuations ; but he was wont, in the most per- 
emptory and solemn manner, to declare this or that particular 
minister an unconverted man, and to call on the people to 
avoid that minister's preaching as they would avoid poison. 



* Chauncey, Seasonable Thouglits, 99. I know not why Chauncey is not 
as good authority in such matters as tlie panic-stricken Doctors of the pres- 
ent day. There is hardly a sentence in his book which would not read well 
in some of our most othodox periodicals, theological and literary. His state- 
ments of matters of fact, bear a wonderful likeness to the reports which were 
given in to the Reforming Convention of Presbyterians, assembled at Pliila- 
dclphia in May, 1837. 



214 

This place appears to have been one of the principal thea- 
ters of his efforts. The celebrity of his father and of his 
more illustrious ancestor, and his numerous connections here, 
his mother being a native of New Haven,'* afforded him of 
course a favorable introduction. He came to this place about 
the beginning of September, 1741, and immediately com- 
menced operations. He was not long in forming, or back- 
ward in expressing, his opinions of Mr. No^'-es, whose pulpit 
he was for a while permitted to enter. In an account writ- 
ten and published at the time it is said, " Mr. Davenport, in 
almost every prayer, vents himself against the minister of the 
place, and often declares him to be an unconverted man, and 
says that thousands are now cursing him in hell for being 
the instrument of their damnation. He charges all to pray 
for his destruction and confusion. He frequently calls him a 
hypocrite, a wolf in sheep's clothing, and a devil incarnate." 
" I think," adds the writer, " that few or none of his greatest 
admirers undertake peremptorily to justify these things ; but 
they have conceived such an extraordinary opinion of his 
holiness and success, as that they seem to suppose that he 
has some extraordinary assistance or commission to do that 
which may not be done by any other man."f 

The following statement, which is made not inconsider- 
ately, but upon the most unquestionable testimony, is valua- 
ble, not only as showing the nature of Mr. Davenport's opera- 
tions in this Church, but also as illustrating to some extent 
the character of Mr. Noyes. 

Several brethren of tlie Church being offended at Mr. 
Davenport's publicly condemning their pastor as an uncon- 
verted man, calling him a wolf in sheep's clothing, with 
many other like opprobrious expressions, came together at 
the house of Mr. Noyes, on the Lord's day, September 21, 

* Rev. John Davenport, of Stamford, was twice married. The children of 
his first wife were six. His second wife was the widow Elizabeth Mallbie, 
daughter of John Morris. She was the mother of two sons, Abraham and 
James. Dodd, East Haven Register, 1 J G. 

i Chauncey, 157. 



215 

1741, probably in the evening, and desired Mr. Davenport to 
give the reasons why he had thus reproached and scandalized 
their pastor. 

Accordingly, Mr. Davenport alledged as his first reason, that 
a woman told him that she canio to Mr. Noyes's under con- 
viction, and said that she was the greatest sinner in the 
world, and that Mr. Noyes endeavored to abate her con- 
victions. 

To this Mr. Noyes replied, that he did not remember the 
instance ; but supposed it might be thus, viz. that he might 
tell her that she was a very great sinner, and that she ought 
to be sensible of it, and more sensible of her own sins than 
of any other person's in the world ; but that he did not sup- 
pose that she was really the greatest sinner in the world. 
Upon this, Mr. Davenport declared that this very reply was 
an additional evidence of his being an unconverted man. 
Afterwards, in explaining himself upon the word ' evi- 
dence,' he said, that it gave him reason to believe that it 
was so. 

Mr. Davenport proceeded to all edge as his second reason, 
that Mr. Noyes assumed an honor to himself in the ministry 
which did not belong to him ; for a woman told him that, 
some years ago, she came to Mr. Noyes, and brought a '• rela- 
tion," or narrative of her mental exercises on religious sub- 
jects, wherein she mentioned the names of several ministers 
who, she supposed, had been instrumental of her conversion ; 
and Mr. Noyes asked her if he had not also done something 
towards her conversion, and asked her why his name was 
not mentioned. Mr. Davenport added that several other per- 
sons had told him that Mr. Noyes disliked their " relations," 
because there were so many names in them besides his. 

To this accusation Mr. Noyes replied, that he did not re- 
member any such thing, and was confident that it was a mis- 
representation. 

A third reason offered by Mr. Davenport in support of his 
opinion was, that Mr. Noyes was not a friend to the n-ork 
then going on, and that he did not countenance itinerant 



216 

preachers ; and that several persons had told him that they 
came to meeting with their affections raised, and that Mr. 
Noyes's preaching deadened and discouraged them, and ten- 
ded to stifle their convictions. 

To all this Mr. Noyes replied, that his preaching and con- 
duct in these ihnigs were publicly known, and that every 
one was capable of judging without his saying any thing on 
the subject. 

The fourth argument to prove Mr. Noyes an unconverted 
man was, that in private conversation with Mr. Davenport, 
he had said to this effect, that he had been deeply sensible of 
the vileness and corruption of his own nature, and that every 
one that turned his thoughts inward might easily have such 
a sense ; and as Mr. Noyes seemed to suppose that it was an 
easy thing, the conclusion was that he had never experienced 
it himself. 

Mr. Noyes's reply to this statement was, that he, in the 
conversation referred to, utterly refused to give Mr. Daven- 
port any account of his religious experience, but that they 
had some discourse on doctrinal points. He could not think, 
however, that Mr. Davenport could reasonably understand 
him to mean, or intend, that every natural man had a sense 
of the vileness and corruption of his nature, or that it was an 
easy thing to have it. Several things were said on this point 
which could not easily be minuted down ; but the sum of 
it was, " there seemed to be a misunderstanding between 
them." 

The whole ground had now been gone over ; and in view 
of all that had been said, Mr. Davenport declared that these 
reasons were sufficient to justify him in censuring and con- 
demning Mr. Noyes as he had done. Then he said he would 
make a sort of acknowledgment ; and forthwith, while some 
in the room were talking loud, and others smoking, and some 
with their hats on, he began a prayer. There being so much 
noise in the room, he was hardly heard at first. Many kept 
on talking ; others exclaimed '' stop him ;" Mr. Noyes spoke 
once or twice, and said, '• Mr. Davenport, I forbid your pray- 



2ir 

ing in my house without my leave." But he went on in the 
midst of noise, confusion, and consternation, and declared 
Mr. Noyes an unconverted man, and his people to be as sheep 
without a shepherd, and prayed that what he had now said, 
might be a means of his and their conversion; "or else," 
said he, " according to thy will let them be confounded." 
After that manner, he went on nearly a quarter of an hour. 
When he had done, Mr. Noyes forbade his ever going into his 
pulpit again ; and some declared to Mr. Davenport, that his 
praying in that manner was a taking of the name of God in 
vain. And so the assembly broke up, in great consternation. 

The document from which I have taken this account, is 
subscribed by Thomas Clap, Rector of Yale College, John 
Punderson, then a deacon in this Church, John Munson, who 
afterwards performed the office of a deacon for more than 
thirty years, and three others,* who unite in certifying, 
" This is the truth, according to the best of our remem- 
brance ; and the substance of the conference was minuted 
down at the time of it, and publicly read to Mr. Davenport, 
and the rest, immediately after."! 

How long after this conference Mr. Davenport continued 
his operations in this place, does not appear. We find, how- 
ever, that at the next society meeting, which was on the 28th 
of December, a paper was presented, signed by thirty eight 
men, desiring a division of the Society. The subscribers to 
this memorial alledged that they had, " by long and sorrowful 
experience, found that the preaching and conduct of the Rev. 
Mr. Noyes had been in great measure unprofitable to them," 
and also that they " had reason to think that he differed from 
them in some points of faith." They professed that they were 
not influenced by " any prejudice to the persons of Mr. Noyes 
and their brethren and friends of the Society, to whom they 
heartily wished all good." They asked that they, with oth- 
ers who might be inclined to join them, might be allowed to 

* The three others were Theoph. Munson, Andrew Tuttlc, and Samuel 
Mix. 

t Chaunccy, 158. 161. 

28 



218 

draw off and become a distinct society, so that they might 
" put themselves under the best advantage to worship God, 
under such means as he in his good providence might allow," 
and such as they might hope he would *' bless for their spir- 
itual good and edification."* 

To us at this day, it seems perfectly obvious, that the only 
wise or reasonable course in regard to such a memorial, and 
indeed the only course consistent with the principles of reli- 
gious freedom, was either to take such measures as might 
conciliate the petitioners, and overcome their prejudices ; or, 
if that seemed impracticable, to grant them their request at 
once. The town, as experience soon proved, was large 
enough for two congregations. In Hartford, there had been 
two Churches, both recognized in law, for seventy years. A 
controversy not unlike that which was now breaking out 
here, had commenced in Guilford twelve years before, and 
had been adjusted, after several years of confusion, only by 
the interference of the legislature to erect the minority into 
a new society. Yet in the face of the lessons taught by the 
experience of other places, the people here, when the ques- 
tion was proposed to the society, whether they would do any 
thing with respect to the memorial of the dissatisfied party, 
answered in the negative. Contention was now of course to 
be expected. 

The next step of the dissatisfied party was, to prefer to the 
Church articles of complaint against the pastor, expecting, or 
at least demanding, that the charges should be investigated, 
according to the strict Congregational discipline, either by the 

* Society Records. The names of the memoriiilists were, Gideon An- 
drews, Caleb Tiittle, Jos. Mix, Caleb Bradley, Joseph Burroughs, David 
Austin, Jacob Turner, Caleb Andrews, Enos Tuttle, Obadiah Munson, Ste- 
phen Johnson, Samuel Cook, Timothy Mix, Samuel Horton, Thomas Pun- 
derson, Junr., Joseph Sackctt, Hez. Beecher, Jos. Mix, Junr., Enos Thom- 
son, John Bull, Caleb Hotchkiss, Junr., Benjamin Woodin, Caleb Bull, Tim- 
othy Jones, Benjamin Willmott, Daniel Turner, Stephen Austin, Thomas 
Willmott, Abraham Thomson, Mercy Ailing, David Punderson, Enos Ai- 
ling, Jabez Sherman, Amos Tuttle, Thomas Leek, Ezekiel Sanford, Timo. 
Ailing, Amos Peck. 



219 

Church itself, or by a council agreed upon between the par- 
ties. In opposition to this demand, it was claimed that the 
Saybrook articles, which were a part of the ecclesiastical 
constitution of the colony and of this Church, had provided 
a different and better way for investigating charges against a 
pastor. By that rule, the ministers of the county, in their 
Association, were in the first instance to receive charges 
against a brother pastor, and if they saw reason, were to di- 
rect to the calling of a council of the consociated Churches 
of the county. But such was the standing of Mr. Noyes 
with the ministers and Churches of the vicinity, that the 
complainants were unwilling to bring their cause before such 
a tribunal. The question was therefore raised, whether the 
Chm-ch had ever adopted the Saybrook articles as a rule of 
discipline ; and though the former pastor of the Church had 
been not only a leading member of the synod that framed 
the platform, but even the principal author of that instru- 
ment; and though the Church was present by its pastor 
and delegate, in the council which had approved the plat- 
form and formed the consociation for the county, and had 
uniformly acted as one of the confederate Churches of the 
county ; it was now maintained by the complainants, that 
inasmuch as there was no written record of any action of the 
Church formally acceding to the Saybrook constitution, it 
was still to be considered as under the old rule of strict Con- 
gregationalism. And when the Church overruled their ob- 
jection, and adopted a vote declaring that in this Church the 
Saybrook articles were to be observed, the ground of com- 
plaint was altered. They now professed to be the aggrieved 
party ; they professed that they had always considered them- 
selves as belonging to an unconsociated Church ; and they 
insisted that Mr. Noyes and his friends had " divested them 
of their ancient ecclesiastical privileges," and by adopting 
the Saybrook platform, had formed themselves into another 
Church than that with which they, tlie complainants, were 
in covenant. 



220 

Accordingly, considering their relation as members of this 
Church to be at an end, they proceeded, without delay, to 
take the benefit of the act of toleration, and to organize 
themselves as a religious congregation dissenting from the 
established worship of the colony. On Friday, the 7th of 
May, 1742, they were solemnly constituted a Congrega- 
tional Church, by four ministers called for the purpose, from 
" the Eastern District of Fairfield County," namely, Samuel 
Cooke, John Graham, Elisha Kent, and Joseph Bellamy.* 
One of the leading men in this secession, at the time when 
the Church was constituted, and afterwards, was Mr. James 
Pierpont, the eldest son of the former pastor, and the brother 
in law of Mr. Noyes, — a circumstance which could hardly 
fail to add to the sturdiness and stiffness of religious contro- 
versy, something of the proverbial bitterness of a family 
quarrel. 

While the opponents of Mr. Noyes were making these 
movements, the Society which they were endeavoring to dis- 
member had not been entirely idle. At a meeting on the 
6th of April, it had been " voted, that a committee be cho- 
sen to treat with the Rev. Mr. Joseph Noyes, Mr. James Pier- 
pont and others, what is proper to be done by the Society in 
this critical day, and report their thoughts at the next meet- 
ing." Six days afterwards, on the report of that committee, 
it was voted that the Rev. Mr. Noyes be desired, at the 
charge of this Society, to call in the assistance of the Rev. 
Messrs. William Russell of Middletown and Jonathan Ed- 
wards of Northampton to consult measures to promote peace 
among us, and to advise the Church and Society in so im- 
portant an affair. On the first Monday in May, which was 
two days before the meeting of the ministers who came from 
Fairfield county to constitute the separating Church, the So- 
ciety, in compliance with the advice given by Mr. Russell 
and Mr. Edwards, resolved, " by a full vote," to proceed to 
the settlement of a colleague pastor ; and requested Mr. 



Records of White Haven Church. 



221 

Noyes, Deacon Punderson and Capt. John Munson to apply 
to the Association, at their next meeting, for advice and di- 
rection with respect to the person that might be suitable to 
be called as assistant in the work of the ministry. Yet in 
the face of these proceedings, designed to take away from 
the complaining party the original and principal ground of 
their dissatisfaction, the separating Church was solemnly con- 
stituted, after a day spent in fasting and prayer by them and 
their officiating ministers. Whether there was any thing in 
this, suited to mitigate Mr. Noyes's keen sense of the indigni- 
ties which he supposed he had suffered, or to give him any 
better opinion of the party opposed to him, we need not in- 
quire. 

On the first Monday in June, the advice of the Association 
was communicated to the Society, recommending the Rev. 
Aaron Burr of Newark, as a proper person to be called to be 
Mr. Noyes's assistant in the ministry. This advice was im- 
mediately complied with ; and a committee was appointed, 
with President Clap at the head of it, to go to Newark as soon 
as might be, and not only to lay this call before Mr. Burr, and 
to prosecute it before the Presbytery, but also to " treat with 
the good people of Newark, and obtain their consent to the 
Rev. Mr. Burr's removal to New Haven." 

We know nothing further respecting this application to Mr. 
Burr, except that it was unsuccessful. In August. Mr. Noyes 
and Captain John Munson were again requested to apply to 
the Association for advice respecting an assistant to the pas- 
tor. The advice being received, the Society in compliance 
with the direction given them, applied to Mr. Chauncey 
Whittelsey, then a tutor in Yale College, to render occasional 
assistance, as might be consistent with his other employ- 
ments. From this time, the settlement of a colleague was 
talked of; but for several years, nothing was done. The 
suspicion went abroad, and obtained extensive currency, that 
Mr. Noyes was not hearty in the plan of having a colleague. 
In this way, the separate meeting was continually increasing 
its numbers. 



222 

Early in 1744, the members of the sepai'ate Church began 
their arrangements for the erection of a house of worship. 
As soon as it appeared what they were doing, a meeting of 
the First Society was held, [18th April,] and " the Society 
entering upon the consideration of the separate party's raising 
a meeting house on the corner of Mr. Joseph Burrough's 
home-lot adjoining to the market place, voted that the same 
is very grievous to the said Society, and that they esteem it 
very hurtful to the public peace of said Society ; and that 
Col. Joseph Whiting, Esq., Dr. John Hubbard, and Mr, Jona- 
than Mansfield, be a committee from said Society, immedi- 
ately to represent to said separatists, that their doings herein 
are unlawful, and hurtful, and esteemed a public nuisance, 
and to desire them forthwith to desist their work." It was 
also voted, " that Col. Joseph Whiting, Esq., and Capt. Jona- 
than Ailing, and Dea. John Hitchcock, be agents or attor- 
neys for said Society, to take advice, and represent to the 
Hon. General Assembly, the doings of said separatists, in 
case they do not desist, — and prosecute them in the law, if 
it be thought advisable." Of course, the separate meeting 
house went up the more rapidly, after such proceedings were 
commenced against it.* 

In the autumn of 1744, Whitefield visited New England 
a second time. Many ministers had by this time, become so 
much alarmed at the progress of the confusion that had en- 
sued upon the labors of lesser itinerants, Whitefield's imita- 
tors, that they looked upon his coming with dissatisfaction, 



* The stated place of worship for tlie separates, before tiiey had a meeting 
house, was the house of Mr. Timothy Jones. Records of County Court. 
From the records of the court, 18th January, 1743, I copy the following : 
" Lieut. Joseph Mix and others of the separate meeting in New Haven, with 
Mr. James Sprout, a preacher, requesting of this court that said Sprout might 
be admitted to take oaths and make subscription, according to the act of Tole- 
ration, and agreeable to the law of this colony relating to sober dissenters, 
this court having [heard] the said Sprout and counsel thereon, and consid- 
ered thereof, are of opinion that the said James Sprout hath not shown him- 
self to have any right by said law to what is asked for, and therefore do not 
see cause to grant the request." 



223 

fearing that it might cause a new outbreak of enthusiasm 
and disorder. The General Association of Connecticut, in 
June, 1745, hearing of his intention to pass this way, expres- 
sed their disapprobation, and advised that he be not invited 
to preach in any of the Churches. Accordingly, when he 
passed through this place he was not invited as before, to 
preach in Mr. Noyes's pulpit. A great crowd, however, as- 
sembled from this and the neighboring towns to hear him ; 
and he preached from a platform in the street, before Mr. 
Pierpont's house, to a congregation on the green which 
neither of the meeting houses could have contained.* 

The act of Toleration, of which the separating party had 
taken the benefit, did not exempt them from the payment of 
taxes to the Society from which they had withdrawn. It 
only gave them the privilege of worshiping by themselves, as 
dissenters from the order established by law. This of course 
added to the bitterness of the controversy, and made Mr. 
Noyes increasingly odious to those who having renounced 
him as their minister, were still taxed for his support. In 
December, 1748, a glimpse of better reason appears in one of 
the Society's votes, by which it was conceded that, in case 
of the settlement of a colleague pastor by the Society, those 
of the separate meeting who had taken the benefit of the act 
of Toleration, should be freed from all taxes for his support. 
There appears no reason to doubt that at that time, and 
thenceforward, Mr. Noyes was earnest in his desire to obtain 
a colleague, if he could have the right man.f 



* The vote of the General Association, may be found in Trumbull, II, 190. 
The fact of Whitefield's preaching here in the open air, was communicated 
to me in 1825 by the venerable Dr. ^Eneas Monson, then in his 92d year. 

t At the meeting above mentioned Mr. Noyes proposed, " that the Society 
would settle some worthy person with him in the ministry." So again at a 
Church meeting, 9th Jan. 1750, " Mr. Noyes, our Rev. Pastor, having repre- 
sented to this Church that he being in years, &c., wanted help," — " the 
Church having sought direction of God in this important affair, and consid- 
ered the matter, declared by their vote that they would, God willing, pro- 
ceed to settle some worthy person with their present pastor in the work of 
the ministry ; and in order thereunto desired and appointed the Rev. Mr. 



224 

In January, 1750, a committee, chosen promiscuously from 
both parties, was appointed to consider the state of the Soci- 
ety with relation to the religious differences, and to propose 
some scheme for a union, or at least for preventing any fur- 
ther separation. This committee does not appear to have ac- 
complished any thing, or to have made any report. 

Nine years after the organization of the separate Church, 
the Rev. Samuel Bird, who had been dismissed from his pas- 
toral charge in Dunstable, Massachusetts, came by invitation 
to supply that Church with stated ministrations. He was a 
man of popular talents ; and the congregation to which he 
preached was soon united in calling him to a permanent set- 
tlement. 

On the 3d of September, 1751, a council was convened to 
advise the separate Church in regard to the installation of Mr. 
Bird as their pastor. The manner in which those who were 
dissatisfied with Mr. Noyes had withdrawn and set up their 
separate organization, seems to have been, up to the date now 
referred to, a serious impediment to their success. Public 
opinion regarded them as originally in the wrong. Mr. Bird 
had suspended his acceptance of their call upon the condition 
that something should be done for the removal of difficulties. 
If Mr. Noyes and his friends could be put more manifestly in 
the wrong, a great point would be gained. This council was 
called to advise in the removal of difficulties. It was smaller 
than was expected ; and therefore, after spending a part of 
two days in examining the whole case, the council was ad- 
journed to the 15th of October, the Church being advised to 
take measures in the mean time for enlarging the council. 

After the adjournment, and probably in compliance with 
some unrecorded advice of the council, the leading members 

Thomas Clap, Dea. Isaac Dickerman, Dea. John Hitchcock, to be their 
committee, to join with such committee as the Society should appoint, in 
taking the advice of the Rev. Association of this county with respect to a 
suitable person or persons, from time to time, as need shall require, and in 
prosecuting the affair from time to time, by the approbation or direction of 
our Rev. Pastor, until a colleague be settled, or this Church order and direct 
otherwise. 



225 

of the separate Church sent to Mr. Noyes and his Church a 
confession, guarded indeed, and not very humble, but yet a 
confession which, if it had been received in a right spirit, 
might have led to a reconciliation.* How that confession 
was received, does not appear. Probably it passed without 
notice. 

When the council came together again in October, it was 
greatly enlarged, and included no small part of the strength 
of the new divinity and new measure party of that age. 
Bellamy was among them, and Wheelock, and Pomeroy, and 
Hopkins, as well as some others whose names are now less 
known, though then they were numbered with the champi- 
ons of their cause. The legislature of the colony was then 
in session ; and of course the time was well chosen for the 
purpose of making a demonstration. The council being or- 
ganized, Messrs, Bellamy and Hopkins were sent to Mr. Noyes 
with a letter, signifying the readiness of the council to re- 
ceive any communications he might choose to make, the next 
day, at nine o'clock in the morning. Mr. Noyes of course 
had no communications to make to such a council ; and in 
the morning, the council entered upon its business without 
him. But in the mean time, the General Assembly, in its 
watchfulness over all the interests of the commonwealth, 
considering that the peace, not only of New Haven, but of 
the whole colony, was involved in these proceedings, and 
feeling, probably, that the new light party was the growing 
party, judged that the controversy ought to be heard by a 
mutual council. 

The advice of the legislature was brought in, while the 
council were hearing the case. Immediately a committee, 
consisting of Mr. Mills, moderator of the council, Mr. Whee- 
lock, Mr. Bellamy, and two of the lay members, was ap- 
pointed to '^ confer with the honorable the Governor, Deputy 
Governor, and the worshipful assistants now sitting in court." 
The committee represented to the upper house, how often the 

" See tlie confession in Trnmbiill, II, 346. 

29 



226 

separating party had proposed to Mr. Noyes a mutual council, 
and how often he had refused or evaded the offer. To this 
the Governor and his council replied by advising that the 
offer should be renewed once more, and by intimating that 
once more would be enough. 

Next, the same committee, with one minister added,* was 
sent to confer with Mr. Noyes on the proposal for a mutual 
council. The report of the committee was, that Mr. Noyes 
would not comply with the advice of the Assembly. Yet 
while the council was in the act of hearing that report, a 
written communication from Mr. Noyes was presented, in 
which he declared his purpose to call his Church together, 
that they might consult on the advice of the Assembly ; and 
to confer with the committee of the parish ; and to prosecute 
the business as fast as Providence would allow.f This letter 
was deemed unsatisfactory and evasive ; and a communica- 
tion, signed by a committee of the sejDarate Church, was 
conveyed to Mr. Noyes by a committee of the council, to tell 
him that they did not trust him, and that they wanted prom- 

* Tlie minister added to the committee when sent to Mr. Noyes, was the 
Rev. John Graham of Southbury, a man rather more unhkely to persuade 
or conciliate, than either Bellamy or Wheelock. 

t The oral report of the committee was — " Mr. Noyes told them * he had a 
great regard to the fifth commandment, but he did not thank the Assembly 
for what they had done. I look upon the Assembly as infallible as the pope. 
Such a council is inconsistent with the constitution, contrary to the light of 
nature ;' — and directing himself to one of the said committee said, ' What if 
you and I had a diflerence, and you should choose three men, and I choose 
three, and they should strip and fight it out ; what good would that do ?' lie 
said ' he liked government, but did not like arbitration : where do you find 
any ground in Scripture for it .'" The said committee returning, reported as 
above to the council, and declared it to be their judgment that Mr. Noyes 
would not comply, and that what he said was a sufficient intimation of his 
non-compliance." 

The reader will naturally inquire whether it was generous or just in the 
council, to bait and worry an irritable old man, by sending a committee, 
some of whom (as Bellamy, Wheelock and Graham,) were especially ob- 
noxious to him ; and then to act, not upon his written reply, but upon the 
violent expressions which the committee had caught up in the heat of their 
debate with him. Mr. Noyes was undoubtedly wrong; the only question is, 
whether the committee and the council were perfectly right. 



227 

ises more distinct, and pledges more irrevocable. He had 
not — so they told him — expressly declared his own compli- 
ance with the advice of the legislature ; he had not proposed 
to call his Church together immediately, nor had he fixed any 
time for that purpose. To this Mr. Noyes's answer, as given 
in writing, was plain, and for aught that I can see, explicit. 
" Gentlemen, I have read your paper of this day, and in an- 
swer say, The advice of the honorable Assembly is to the 
Society and Church in this place, whose minds I do not 
know. So far as it concerns me, I purpose to prosecute it, 
and to lay it before my Church as soon as Providence will 
allow me, and confer with the Society's committee on the af- 
fair." Yet the committee who waited on him, and who 
brought back this written answer, insisted in their report, 
that when in conversation they told Mr. Noyes that this 
seemed to leave the matter in doubt, and therefore desired 
him expressly to say for himself, whether he would on his 
part comply with the advice of the Assembly, and expressly 
jiromise to lay it before the Church, he refused to give them 
any other promise ; and upon this testimony, the council 
voted that Mr. Noyes's answers were evasive. 

The next step in the council was to give a formal judg- 
ment on the controversy between the separates and their op- 
ponents, declaring that the ground on which the separates 
had withdrawn and erected themselves into a distinct Church 
was right ; and that the confession which they had so lately 
offered as to the manner of their withdrawal, was sufficient. 
Mr. Bird was then examined and approved ; and, in the face 
of another communication from Mr. Noyes, again assuring 
them of his intention to comply with the advice of the legis- 
lature so far as he was concerned,* the installation was per- 
formed. 

* Mr. Noyes's letter, as preserved on Mr. Bird's records, is as follows : 
" To the Rev. Mr. Jedediah Mills, &c. 

" Gentlemen : 

" Perceiving that what I have wrote is not rightly understood, I again 
say, I have no mental reserves. I look upon it my duty to prosecute the ad- 



228 

This proceeding did not prevent Mr. Noyes from fulfilling 
his promise of compliance with the advice of the Assembly. 
Early in the ensuing week, the Church having already acted, 
there was a meeting of the Society, at which it was voted, 
that the Society " do fully acquiesce in said advice and deter- 
mine to prosecute it ;" and thanks were voted to the General 
Assembly for their care. A committee* was appointed to act 
for the Society in the nomination of a council, and in deter- 
mining what particular questions should be submitted to the 
council. It was also voted, that if the parties should not 
agree in the nomination of a council, the General Assembly 
should be requested either to appoint a council of their own 
selection, or to cause one to be nominated by the several con- 
sociations in the colony, A committee was also appointed 
on the part of the separate Church. The committees agreed 
in the nomination of a council, but they could not agree as 
to the particular questions upon which the council should be 
called to judge. At that point, the proposal was frustrated.! 

A year and a half after these proceedings, this Church 
adopted a solemn vote, reciting the origin of the separation 
under the conduct of James Davenport, the forbearance which 
this Church, according to the advice of the " Grand Council 
at Guilford," had exercised towards its separating members, 



vice of the honorable Assembly. Shall do it to my utmost : purpose to call 
a church meeting, the beginning of the week. I have sent for the Society's 
committee, to speak with them this evening. Let there be no misunder- 
standing. In great haste, I am, gentlemen, yours, &c. 

Joseph Noyes. 

" P. S. I hope you will do nothing to defeat the advice." 

This letter came when the council were just ready to move to the meeting 
house, and " after a short debate," was voted to be " now unseasonable." 

* "Rev. Mr. Thomas Clap, Dea. Isaac Dickerman, John Hubbard, Esq., 
Dea. John Hitchcock, Dea. Jonathan Mansfield, Capt. Jonathan Ailing, and 
Mr. Channcoy Whittelsey, together with the Rev. Mr. Joseph Noyes." 

t The account of these proceedings is compiled from the records of the 
Society, and from those of the White Haven Church. Dr. Trumbull's entire 
story of the separation at New Haven, (H, ch. 14.) is little else than a tran- 
script, with verbal alterations, of the first twelve pages in Mr. Bird's book of 
records. He appears not to have consulted any other document. 



229 

and the censure passed upon them by the consociation of the 
county, — and declaring that all who had joined the separate 
Church, or who had communed with them, had cut them- 
selves oft" from this Church, and that the Church was there- 
fore discharged of " any farther special inspection over them." 
All this while the new Church, under the ministry of a 
man in the prime of life, whose style was popular, whose elo- 
cution was impressive, and whose preaching insisted much 
on those great topics and grounds of spiritual religion which 
are in all ages most interesting to the human mind, was con- 
tinually gaining upon the old Church, in its old meeting 
house, under the ministry of an old man, whose preaching, 
dry in style, and dull in delivery, was, at the best, " non- 
committal" in respect to those ever litigated doctrines which 
are the grand objective motives of Christian piety. In Janu- 
ary, 1753, it was proposed that a new meeting house should 
be erected. But the law required, in order to the erection of 
a meeting house, a vote of two thirds of the inhabitants of 
the Society ; and such a vote, by reason of the opposition 
of the separate party, could not be obtained. It was resolved 
therefore to petition the General Assembly for a special act en- 
abling the Society, or such part of it as the legislature should 
think proper, to tax themselves for that purpose. The separate 
Church determined to meet them with a counter memorial, 
praying to be released from all taxes for the support of Mr. 
Noyes. The petition of the Society was so far successful, 
that the erection of the meeting house was commenced in 
the ensuing summer, the location being fixed by a committee 
of the legislature. But although the undertaking was for- 
warded by the generosity of individuals, and by large and 
repeated donations from the funds of the Church ; such were 
the difficulties to be encountered, that the new brick meeting 
house was not finished till three or four years afterwards. 

While the ecclesiastical affairs of New Haven were in this 
unhappy condition, the general controversy originating in the 
great religious excitement of the age, was becoming more 
complicated. In a few years from the beginning, it was 



230 

plain that there were three distinct parties in the field. First, 
there were those who went all lengths for itineracy and lay 
preaching, for outcries in worship and bodily agitations, for 
denunciation of ministers, and separation from the regular 
Churches, for enthusiastic impulses as the rule of judgment, 
and for every other extravagance. The chief leader, if not 
the father of these, James Davenport, was, in the year 1744, 
by the blessing of God on the endeavors of Messrs. WiUiams 
and Wheelock of Lebanon, recovered from his delusion, and 
brought to a penitent confession of the extravagances into 
which he had been led. But he found, as such men always 
find, that he could not undo the mischief he had done. He 
could recover but few of those whom he had been the means 
of leading into delusion. They generally pronounced him a 
fallen man ; they declared that he was under the influence 
of others, and that he had lost the Spirit of God. 

Another party included all those who, with Edwards and 
Bellamy, acknowledged the hand of God in the revival of 
religion, and endeavored to convince all that the work was 
indeed of God, and that its effects and results, however they 
might come far short of what had been hoped for, and how- 
ever they had been marred by the workings of human im- 
perfection and folly, were greatly to be rejoiced in ; but who 
at the same time felt themselves bound, to bear testimony as 
they had occasion, — though I cannot but think that some of 
them testified too sparingly, — against the extravagances and 
errors which had been so disastrously mingled with the work 
of God, whether by their own agency or by that of otliers. 
This was the middle party ; and this was continually gain- 
ing ground, especially in Connecticut. 

A third party was that of which Dr. Chauncey, of Boston, 
may be considered the leader. It included those who for- 
getting that the opposite of wrong is not always right, thought 
that the one great duty of the times was to oppose the new 
light and the new measures. They were men whose oppo- 
sition to extravagance became itself extravagant ; and whose 
fears that some credit might accrue to Whitefield, or Ten- 



231 

nont, or Davenport, or some other revivalist, led them insen- 
sibly to take dangerous ground, to undervalue all zeal for the 
conversion of men, to oppose all the forms of religious ac- 
tivity, to think lightly of that kind of preaching which has 
the most direct tendency to affect the popular mind, and to 
be more and more disgusted with what seemed to them en- 
thusiasm, extravagance and cant, till some of them, and par- 
ticularly Chauncey himself, became apostles of the most de- 
structive heresies. 

With this third party Mr. Noyes appears to have had too 
much sympathy. If I mistake not, his sense of personal 
injury, his love of old steady times, and his disgust, had 
made him too much like one of those old school men of this 
day, whose discourse is ever of the degeneracy of the times, 
and who are alive only with anxiety and panic about the 
progress of extravagance and error. This too tended to the 
prosperity of the separating Church. The people, — the best 
part of the people, — who knew what God had wrought ; 
who knew how many family altars had been erected in con- 
sequence of the revival, how many thoughtless giddy souls 
had become serious and devout, how much vice had been 
checked, and the knowledge and study of the Scriptures had 
been promoted, — could not be made to sympathize perma- 
nently with such feelings. And on the other hand, the new 
Church having for its distinctive character opposition to Mr. 
Noyes's ministry, had less and less sympathy with the ex- 
travagances which attended its origin, and grew in grace as 
it grew in stature. 

The religious disputes of the day were carried into politics, 
as of course they must be where the Churches are subject to 
political regulation. At first the legislature made severe laws 
to repress the itinerating preachers and the lay exhorters, and 
to keep every pastor from invading other men's parishes. Un- 
der these laws, a man no less considerable than Samuel Fin- 
ley, afterwards president of the College of New Jersey, was 
seized by the civil authority for preaching in Milford, and 
was carried as a vagrant out of the colony. But such pro- 



232 

ceedings, of course, produced a reaction. The new light side 
soon became the side of liberty, the side of " the democracy," 
the side of those who were deemed the vulgar, against those 
who considered themselves as belonging to a higher class in 
society. Of course it was the growing side. In a few years, 
the " political new lights" began to command a formidable 
influence in the General Assembly of the colony. 

It was not long before the College began to feel the pressure 
of this state of things. The students and officers of the Col- 
lege, had always worshiped in this congregation, and attend- 
ing upon a separate meeting, even in vacation, had been 
treated in the laws of the College, and in the administration 
of the laws, as a serious ofl^ense.* But now many of the 
students began to have decided preferences about the place 
of worship, and many parents, placing their sons here, shared 
in the growing prejudice against Mr. Noyes. The President 
and the Corporation had been greatly opposed to the " new 
light" party, and particularly to the separate meeting here. 
One of the Fellows, Mr. Cooke of Stratfield, a leading agi- 
tator, had been called to account before the Corporation, for 
some of his proceedings, probably for his part in organizing 
the separation here ; and he had found it expedient to resign 
his seat at the Board.f But gradually, the President, and 
the other members of that body appear to have become con- 
vinced that Mr. Noyes was at heart opposed to receiving a 
colleague ; and that he had art enough to defeat all efforts to 
that end. What then was to be done ? The College was 
losing its favor with the public ; and was there no remedy ? 
A timid man, or a man of less grasp and force of mind, would 
probably have petitioned the legislature for liberty to form 
the students into a distinct congregation, and to organize a 
Church in College, and might thus have exposed the institu- 

* The well known case of David Brainerd, will be noticed on a subsequent 
page. For the case of John and Ebenezer Cleaveland, (of whom John was 
the grandfather of the Rev. E. L. Cleaveland, of this city,) see Trumbull, 
II, 129. 

t College Records. 



233 

tion to the greatest dangers. But President Clap conceived 
the bold idea of asserting this right as by the common law 
inseparable from the existence of a College, and as conce- 
ded, therefore, by the charter that allowed the institution to 
become a College. All parties seem to have been taken by 
surprise, and opposition to the plan, both in the corporation 
and out of it, though earnest, was ineffectual. In 1753 pub- 
lic worship was commenced in the College Hall ; and efforts 
were made with great vigor to obtain the means of supporting 
a Professor of Divinity, who should be the pastor of the Col- 
lege congregation. In pursuing this object, the President be- 
came of course Mr. Noyes's earnest opponent. The great argu- 
ment for raising funds, was that the College must have better 
preaching than Mr. Noyes's, more instructive, more awaken- 
ing, more orthodox. Mr. Noyes though a member of the 
corporation, and for a long time the secretary of that body, 
was vilified before the legislature and elsewhere, as an Ar- 
minian, and almost, if not quite, a Deist. That he was an 
Arminian, never was proved, and certainly cannot be dis- 
proved. We may presume that as he found himself the ob- 
ject of increasing odium and denunciation, on the part of 
those whose rallying cry was ' Orthodoxy,' he was increas- 
ingly disposed to differ from them on all sorts of questions. 
At one time, an attempt was made to bring him before the 
College corporation, that he might be examined as to his the- 
ological views, and thus be convicted of heresy. Of course 
he met the attempted usurpation with an obstinate resistance. 
For resisting it successfully, he deserves to be had in respect- 
ful remembrance. 

In 1755, the Rev. Naphtali Daggett was elected Professor 
of Divinity in the College, and entered on the duties of that 
office. The following year, an earnest effort was made by 
the people, " with Mr. Noyes's good liking" to make him 
colleague pastor here, and thus to bring back the College to 
this congregation. When that proposal had been declined, 
it was immediately followed by a request that the professor 
should preach in the pulpit of this Society, half the lime, 

30 



234 

The attempt failed, because the corporation could not be 
moved from the purpose of maintaining public worship al- 
ways within the walls of the College. I need not say how 
much the true interests of this Church, as well of the Col- 
lege, were promoted by this arrangement. 

One point which this negotiation clearly demonstrates, de- 
serves a moment's consideration. The Church and Society, 
and their minister, are commonly reported to have been in 
those days entirely Arminian. Professor Daggett was a 
preacher of the most " proved and approved" Calvinism. Yet 
Mr. Daggett's preaching was '• to the very good liking of the 
said Mr. Noyes, and the people in general ;" and Mr. Noyes, 
to obtain the aid of so orthodox a divine, freely offered to re- 
linquish half his salary. The Society was not satisfied with 
merely offering a call. Having referred to the great desire 
which the corporation of the College had expressed, especially 
for the sake of the students, to have orthodox principles incul- 
cated, " as contained in the Confession of Faith owned in the 
Churches of this colony, and in the Assembly's Catechism," 
they adopted a solemn declaration in these words ; — " That 
they esteem themselves to be, and always to have been set- 
tled and built upon the ecclesiastical constitution of this col- 
ony, both in doctrine and discipline, which doctrine is that 
contained in the said Confession and Catechism; and that 
they are not only willing but desirous that the same princi- 
ples and no other, be preached in the pulpit, — and the same 
shall by no means be offensive to us." Does not this indicate 
that the bitter controversy of the age was maintained by fac- 
tion and passion, quite as much as by any radical or irrecon- 
cileable difference of principle ? 

At this time, the long continued ecclesiastical controversy 
in the town was manifestly approaching a crisis. It began to 
be feared on one side, and hoped on the other, that the " new 
lights" would ere long become the majority. The Society 
in its meetings began to manifest a desire to be peaceably rid 
of them. On the 10th of February, 1755, it was '-voted 
that a])plication be made to the General Assembly for relief;" 



235 

and " that the General Assembly be humbly requested to 
enact, either (1) that those persons who have dissented as 
aforesaid, and their adherents, be disenabled to act or vote in 
any meeting of this Society, in any matter that respects the 
ministry and the building or repairing the meeting house of 
the Society ; or (2) that the said dissenters and their adhe- 
rents be set off from this Society so as that said Society may 
meet and vote respecting the matters aforesaid, exclusive of 
and without taxing or having regard to said dissenters and 
their adherents, in such way and manner as said General As- 
sembly shall see fit." The "new hghts" not only voted 
against this proposal, but entered a formal protest against it. 
It seems that this application was unsuccessful. A year after- 
wards when the attempt to settle Mr. Daggett was in pro- 
gress, it was voted that " this Society is wiUing that those 
inhabitants who ordinarily attend on the ministry of Mr. 
Bird, should be exempted from paying any part of such 
taxes," as might be laid for the settlement and support of 
Mr. Daggett ; " and that they and their posterity be made a 
body corporate or ecclesiastical society, provided, they will 
apply to the General Assembly therefor, and be set off from 
this Society." A few days afterwards, a large committe was 
appointed, representing both parties, to '•' project some method 
or plan to divide the Society in some just and reasonable 
manner." This committee does not appear to have arrived 
at any result. In March, the necessity of laying a tax for 
the completion of the new meeting house, was made the oc- 
casion of a memorial to the legislature for relief ; but against 
this Mr. Bird's adherents protested. 

The grand obstacle all along, in the way of a division, 
was the hope which the separates cherished, of getting the 
property not of the Society only, but of the Church also, into 
their own hands. Secession and liberty would not satisfy 
them. They judged that they had a right to at least an 
equal share of the lands and funds, which the Society had 
acquired from various sources. They felt too that they had 
as good a right as any body to the peculiar endowments, and 
even to the sacramental vessels, of the Church from which 



236 

they had seceded. None hi these days would think of such 
a claim. They never would have thought of it, if they had 
been at liberty to secede when they first desired a separation. 

At the annual meeting in January, 1757, it was once more 
resolved that application be made to the General Assembly 
to have the inhabitants divided into two ecclesiastical socie- 
ties ; and at the same time it was ordered, that all the inhab- 
itants have liberty to enter their names with the clerk at any 
time before the first of May, " declaring to which party they 
choose to belong, by the general distinction of Mr. Noyes's 
party and Mr. Bird's party," so that the division into two par- 
ties might be made according to what is now called " elec- 
ti\'e affinity." In regard to the property it was resolved, 
" that the General Assembly be desired, upon hearing the 
parties, to judge and determine how the same ought to be 
disposed of." Mr. Jared Ingersoll of this Church, and Mr. 
Samuel Cooke of the separate Church, were appointed agents 
in behalf of the Society to present the petition. The meet- 
ing was adjourned to the second Monday in June ; and be- 
fore that time, it was expected that the legislature would act 
on the petition. 

The enrolling of the names of all the inhabitants accord- 
ing to their party preferences was immediately commenced ; 
and when it was finished, it appeared that the " new lights" 
were the majority. By some means, the General Assembly 
was induced to continue the Society's memorial from the 
May session to the session in October. At the adjourned 
meeting in June, it was voted by the new light majority, 
that the memorial be withdrawn. It was also voted to " elect 
and call" Mr. Bird to be -'a minister of this Society," and 
that the new light meeting house " be the place of public 
worship for the present." Mr. Bird accepted the call ;* and 

* I transcribe from the Society records, Mr. Bird's letter accepting the call. 
The address of the letter is, " To Messrs. David Wooster, James Pierpont, 
and William Greenough, oommittee from the First Society in New Haven. 
To be communicated." 

" Gentlemen, — The notice you have taken of me, and the respect you 
have shown me, in given me a call to the work of the ministry among yon, 
is acknowledged with gratitude. I have calmly and deliberately considered 



23T 

at a subsequent meeting, an annual salary was voted for him. 
It was now the turn of the " old lights" to exercise the grace 
of patience, and to record their protests. 

At a meeting in October, it was voted, that whereas the 
difficulties in the Society had been occasioned by " the great 
deficiencies of Mr. Noyes in the work of the ministry," and 
particularly by his " neglecting to open, explain, and inculcate 
some of the great and important doctrines of Christianity," 
and his '' imprudent" and " inexcusable conduct with regard 
to the settlement of a colleague ;" and whereas it was doubt- 
ful whether the contract originally made with Mr. Noyes 
could be enforced by law, owing to some technical informali- 
ties which they thought they had discovered ; and whereas 
for several months, Mr. Noyes had not attended public wor- 
ship at the place appointed for that purpose by the Society, — 
therefore a committee should wait on Mr. Noyes "and inform 
him that, for the foregoing reasons among many others, it is 
the desire of this Society that he would desist from his min- 
isterial labors in this place, and that no farther provision will 
be made by this Society for his support and maintenance." 
Mr. Noyes continued his labors as before ; and he took pains 
to remove all doubts respecting the validity of the contract 
under which he was settled, by bringing an action against 
the Society, and thus enforcing the payment of his salary. 

In February, 1758, a proposal was formally tendered by 
the adherents of Mr. Bird to the other party, that a division 
of the property, both that belonging to the Society and that 
which was peculiar to the Church, should be made by arbi- 
tration of individuals mutually chosen. The proposal being 
rejected by the adherents of Mr. Noyes, who would not for a 



the matter, and in answer say, that since Providence has fixed my abode 
among you, I shall not be unwilling to serve you to the best of my power ; 
provided due encouragement be given for a comfortable subsistence among 
you so long as it may be the pleasure of God to continue me in the work, 
and my labors may be acceptable to you. This with my kindest salutations 
to you, wishing that grace, mercy and peace may be multiplied to you and 
yours, and asking an interest in your prayers for me, leaves me nothing fur- 
ther but to subscribe your well wisher and humble servant, 

SamT,. RlKD." 

" New Haven, Aug. 8th, 1757." 



238 

moment entertain any overture implying that the property of 
the Church belonged to the Society, was ordered to be put 
upon record " as a standing evidence of the pacific disposi- 
tion of Mr. Bird's adherents."* 

At the same meeting, votes were adopted, protesting in the 
strongest terms against the intended ordination of Mr. Whit- 
telsey as colleague with Mr, Noyes in the pastoral care of this 
Church, The ordination was however performed, just three 
weeks afterwards. This event doubtless, tended to bring 
the controversy to a conclusion ; for thenceforward the per- 
sonal and official unpopularity of Mr. Noyes no longer ope- 
rated as before, to weaken the hands of his Church and 
congregation. 

At last on the 8th of January, 1759, it was voted to apply 
to the General Assembly again for a division of the Society, 
and that all questions as to which party should be the First 
Society, and how the property in dispute should be divided, 
be left to the wisdom of the legislature. In October of the 
same year the request was granted. The adherents of this 
Church were made the First Society ; and the adherents of 
the separate Church were incorporated as the White Haven 
Society, The plate and all the property of this Church re- 
mained undivided. The new brick meeting house, erected 
partly by the funds of the Church, and partly by donations 
from individuals, was declared the property of the First So- 
ciety. The old meeting house, the bell, and all the property 
which had belonged to the Society before the commence- 
ment of the difficulties, was declared to belong to the two 
Societies in equal proportions. And thus the controversy of 
eighteen years was concluded. 

Mr. Noyes lived a little more than three years after the 
ordination of his colleague, " Finding the infirmities of age 
to increase upon him, he very much desisted from the public 
work of the sanctuary, and entertained himself almost wholly 

* Under tliis record as it stands in the Society's book, some later pen has 
written, " Qucre, Whether there are not sometimes violent gusts of wind in 
the Pacific Ocean ?" 



239 

with reading and conversing with his friends and people. 
And thns," sa^^s his colleague and successor, "he seemed 
very agreeably to pass away the years of his old age, often 
expressing peculiar satisfaction in the present peaceable state 
of his flock, and the provision that God in his providence had 
made for them."* He died on the 14th of June, 1761, 
aged 73 ; and his dust lies under this edifice. 

As he left behind him no published works, and as none of 
his manuscripts are now known to exist, it is impossible for 
us to form any just estimate of his intellectual powers and 
attainments. Mr. Whittelsey, who knew him well for more 
than twenty years, has given a careful delineation of his char- 
acter in a manuscript now before me. " Mr. Noyes was a gen- 
tleman of good natural powers ; and as he resided at the Col- 
lege several years after he received the honors of it, he made 
himself very much master of the learning taught at College 
in that day. He was naturally observing, judicious, and pru- 
dent ; and these very useful and important qualities, he, 
from time to time improved by experience, and thence was 
an excellent economist in the management of the atfairs both 
of his family and of the public. His conversation was very 
entertaining and useful ; even those who, after the difficulties 
arose in his Church, were not so well pleased with his preach- 
ing and public ministerial labors, yet allowed him to have an 
uncommon talent at pleasing and instructing in private and 
familiar discourse. In public prayers he was equaled by few 
in justness of sentiment, and in readiness, variety and aptness 
of expression ; on special occasions, he was admired for his 
discernment and accuracy in noticing every particular that 
was proper to be noticed, and in choosing expressions that 
were pertinent and well adapted to the occasion. In his 
public discourses, as he remembered that the gospel was to 
be preached to the poor, and was of opinion that the un- 
learned, the more ignorant part of the people, stood in need 
of instruction and help more than others ; so he, upon prin- 
ciple, aimed rather to be plain, familiar, and instructive, than 

* MS. 



240 

learned, critical, ornamental, or moving.* Indeed, in ex- 
pounding passages of Scripture occasionally, he discovered a 
close attention, and a good acquaintance with the phraseology 
of Scripture, and a sufficient knowledge of the art of criti- 
cism. In expounding doubtful passages, and treating upon 
deep and mysterious doctrines, about which good and great 
men had entertained different sentiments, he was always 
cautious, and judiciously charitable and moderate." 

It would be unjust not to pay, in this place, some tribute 
to the memory of Madam Noyes. She was the eldest daugh- 
ter of the Rev. James Pierpont, and the only child of his 
second wife. Distinguished by the advantages of birth and 
station, she was more distinguished by her intellectual and 
moral endowments. Her example, her prayers, and her un- 
wearied diligence in doing good, made her, from early youth 
to the most venerable age, one of the best of blessings, not 
to her husband and children only, but to the Church and to 
the public. Her memory long flourished here, and her name 
was greatly honored, even by those who remembered her 
husband with aversion. She died at the same age with her 
husband, having survived him seven years.f 

Need I say what lesson we ought to learn from the pain- 
ful history we have been reviewing ? We have been study- 
ing the operation of party spirit ; and how instructive is the 
study in reference to our own duties and dangers. That, in 
our times, which mosi counteracts and threatens to turn into 
bitterness the purest affections of piety — that which tends 
most to the perversion and progressive corruption of religious 
doctrine, and to prevent the just understanding and applica- 
tion of the word of God — that which, most of all things in 

* This, however well expressed, is a poor apology for poor preaching. Ig- 
norant people need the best preaching ; and that which is good for ignorant 
people, is good for the most enlightened. I have heard the story, that Presi- 
dent Clap once undertook to expostulate with Mr. Noyes for not preaching 
better. " You do not know," said Mr. Noyes, " what an ignorant people I 
have to preach to." " Yes I do," said the President, " and I know that as 
long as you preach to them in this way, they always will be ignorant." 

t The character of Madam Noyes, as delineated by Mr. Whittelsey, in a 
sermon occasioned by her death, will be found in the Appendix, No. XII. 



241 

the Church, dishonors God, exposes the name of Christ to 
scorn, and grieves the Spirit of grace — is the party spirit 
among ministers and Churches, which so much talent arid so 
much industry are continually laboring, with disastrous suc- 
cess, to fan into a devouring flame. 

During the period which has now been reviewed, the coun- 
try was passing through the struggles of the " old French 
wars." The French monarchy had formed a gigantic scheme 
of dominion in America. Having possessed itself of the Mis- 
sissippi and the St. Lawrence, it was stretching a chain of 
forts and trading stations from the one to the other, and was 
designing to sweep the English from the continent. Two 
protracted wars, of which the greatest brunt aud bmthen 
came upon New England, annihilated that ambitious project. 
The first, in which France and Spain were allied against 
Great Britain, commenced in 1740, and ended in 1748 with 
the treaty of Aix la Chapelle. This war was signalized by 
that most adventurous exploit on the part of the New Eng- 
landers, the capture of Louisburg ; and it first made Great 
Britain acquainted with the iron energy that was developing 
itself in this unnoticed corner of her empire. Signalized as 
it was by the most enthusiastic exertions on the part of New 
England, and by the most unlocked for successes, it resulted 
in nothing. Peace was made on tlie plan of restoring every 
thing to the state before the war ; and then both parties had 
as it were a breathing time, preparing for another conflict. 
The second of these wars commenced in 1755, and ended 
in 1760, with the conquest of Canada, and the destruction 
of the French scheme of empire on this continent. In this 
war, Connecticut distinguished herself even above her sis- 
ter colonies. She had no immediate interest. Her terri- 
tory was not invaded ; her hearths and her altars were far 
from the scene of conflict. Yet, year after year, she spon- 
taneously furnished a double quota of men and of all the 
materials of war. For three successive campaigns, she kept 
in the field, at her own expense, an army of five thousand 
men, — and those, not wretched conscripts from a wretched 

31 



242 

peasantry, nor the miserable sweepings from the streets of 
cities, but hardy freeholders and their sons, who knew how 
great was the prize for which they were contending ; and 
Avho, by that lavish expenditure of treasure and of blood, 
saved their posterity from becoming the vassals of a popish 
despot, and opened the boundless west to be planted by the 
sons of New England, and to be filled with New England 
institutions. Thus the colonies were made to know their 
own strength. They learned that their own armed yeoman- 
ry, contending for their rights, for their hopes, for their pos- 
terity, were better on the march and in the battle, than the 
mercenary soldiers of Britain. And when, about twelve years 
from the close of the last French war, the long expected crisis 
came, and the country rose in arms to the awful struggle for 
its independence ; all was ready. Those who commanded at 
Bunker Hill, those who formed and trained the continental 
armies, and led them to their victories, were men who, in the 
preceding conflicts, had learned the art of war by contact 
with its stern realities. 

In those preceding conflicts. New England moved as with 
one soul. The " old light" and the " new light" stood 
shoulder to shoulder. New Haven gave two heroic leaders, 
Whiting from the old Church, and Wooster from the new, 
both of whom rendered the most important services to their 
country, and one of whom lived long enough to die in the 
more desperate conflict of the revolution.* 

* A brief but just tribute is paid to the memory of these two citizens of 
New Haven by Prof Kingsley, in his Historical Discourse, 68. It is not 
impertinent to transcribe here the title of an old pamphlet. " The Charac- 
ter and Duty of Soldiers illustrated, in a Sermon preached May 25, 1755, in 
the Rev. Mr. Noyes's meeting-house in New Haven, at the desire of Col. 
Nathan Whiting, to the military company under his command in the present 
expedition for the defence of the British Dominions in America. By Isaac 
Stiles, A. M. Published at the request of said Colonel, and the other officers 
of said company. Who will lead me into Edam? Wilt not than, God! go 
forth with our hosts ? — David. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all 
the people of rear with him, and all the mighty 7nen of valor : and the Lord 
said unto Joshua, Fear not ; for I have delivered them into thine hand ; — there 
shall not a man of thevi stand before thee. — Joshua. New Haven : Printed 
and sold by James Parker, at the Post office. MDCCLV." 



DISCOURSE XII. 

CHATJNCEV WHITTELSEY AND HIS MINISTRY. THE AGE OF THE 

REVOLUTION. 

Psalm cxxiv, 1 — 3. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side^ 
may Israel now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when 
men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick, when their 
wrath was kindled against us. 

Having said all that the plan of these discourses will per- 
mit respecting the ministry of Mr. Noyes, I now proceed to 
speak of the life, labors and character of his successor. 

The Rev. Chauncey Whittelsey was born at Wallingford, 
Oct. 28, 171.7. His father, the Rev. Samuel Whittelsey, was 
the second pastor of the Church in that place, a man greatly 
distinguished in his day for his abilities and his public useful- 
ness. His mother was a granddaughter of the famous Presi- 
dent Chauncey of Harvard College. From both parents he 
inherited strong mental powers, which were highly cultiva- 
ted by education. He graduated at Yale College in 1738, 
and continued his classical studies as a resident graduate on 
Bishop Berkeley's foundation. At the resignation of Rector 
Williams, which took place in 1739, Mr. Whittelsey was 
elected a tutor. He served the public in that office six 
years, and was concerned in the instruction of four classes, 
two of which received a great part of their education under 
him. Many of his pupils became afterwards greatly distin- 
guished in the Church and in the commonwealth. Presi- 
dent Stiles says of him, — '' He was an excellent classical 
scholar, well acquainted with the three learned languages, 
the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, but especially the Latin and 
Greek. He was well acquainted with Geography, Mathe- 
matics, Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy, with Moral 
Philosophy and History, and with the general cyclopasdia of 
Literature. He availed himself of the advantages of an 
academic life, and amassed, by laborious reading, a great 



244 

treasure of wisdom ; and for literaliire, he was, in his day, 
oracular at College, for he taught with facility and success in 
every branch of knowledge. He had a very happy talent at 
instruction and communicating the knowledge of the liberal 
arts and sciences."* Religious himself from his early youth, 
he did not fail to urge rehgious truth and duty upon those 
who were under his instruction. His pupils afterwards re- 
garded him with great respect. One of the most illustrious 
of them said of him, at his funeral, " I shall never forget the 
pathetic and earnest recommendations of early piety which 
he gave to us in the course of the tutorship." 

It was during his official connection with College, that the 
institution, the town, and the whole of New England, were 
shaken with the religious agitation of 1740. At that very 
period, (Sept. 30, 1740, )f he was first licensed to preach as a 
candidate for the work of the ministry. Before this, in the 
first year of his tutorship, he was solicited to become a can- 
didate for settlement in a neighboring parish, (Amity,) which 
he declined, partly because of his College engagements, and 
partly because he considered himself not yet qualified for the 
work. In reference to that request, I find him, recording in 
his private journal — of which a single leaf is all that re- 
mains — the following thoughts : " Having repeatedly com- 
mended my case to God by prayer, and, I think, strictly and 
impartially examined myself, I am obliged to think myself 
as yet too little acquainted with God, the Scriptures, human 
nature in general, and my own heart in particular, to venture 
to undertake the great and important work of the ministry. 

God ! fit me for that noble and honorable employment, if 
it be thy will that I should be improved in it. Let me not 
enter upon it without thy direction and blessing. Lord Je- 
sus ! mighty Head of the Church ! fit me for thy service, and 
improve me in thy vineyard. But unless thou go forth with 
me, let me not go forth upon that weighty business. O may 

1 never be an idle spectator or a slothful laborer in the vine- 

^ Fiiiipral Serninn. 24. t Records of Association. 



245 

yard of my God. May I be willing to spend and be spent in 
the work of the Lord, and for the good and salvation of souls. 
May I wait God's time, be resigned to his will, aim at his 
glory, have more of the meek and humble spirit of Jesus 
Christ, be more and more weaned from the world, and live 
above it, that I may preach the gospel in truth, not influen- 
ced therein by the fear of man ; but may I speak the truth 
boldly in Christ, and be blessed by him." 

This is none other than that " tutor Whittelsey," known 
to thousands in both hemispheres as the man of whom David 
Brainerd declared : " He has no more grace than this chair !" 
David Brainerd came to College at the same time at which 
Mr, Whittelsey was introduced as tutor. During his Fresh- 
man and Sophomore years, he had " found divine life and 
spiritual refreshment" in the ordinances, and his soul had 
enjoyed " sweet and precious frames," even under the ad- 
ministration and preaching of Mr. Noyes. When Whitefield 
made his first visit here, Brainerd was spending his vacation 
at home in Haddam. Near the close of January, in his 
Sophomore year, he esteemed himself to have " grown more 
cold and dull in religion, by means of his "old temptation, 
ambition in" his " studies." But in the month of February, 
he was quickened by " a great and general awakening" which 
spread itself over the College and the town.* In March, Gil- 
bert Tennent, then returning from his labors in Boston to 
New Jersey, visited New Haven, and in the course of a week 
preached seventeen sermons, most of them in the meeting 
house, two or three in the College Hall ; and thus the work 
previously begun, became an overpowering excitement.f 
Amid so great an excitement of feeling, in himself and in 
others around him, Brainerd's growth in grace was probably 
not equal to his enjoyment, or his activity in promoting the 
work. Six months afterwards, came Davenport with his 
wildfire, his denunciations, his extravagances, to draw off a 
part of the congregation and establish a separate meeting. 

'* Edwards's Works, x, 45 — 50. t Hopkins's Life of himself. 



246 

Then it was preeminently that, in the words of Edwards, 
"an intemperate and imprudent zeal, and a degree of enthu- 
siasm, crept in and mingled itself with the revival of religion." 
Then it was that Brainerd, far more than at any other period 
of his life, " had the unhappiness to have a tincture of that 
intemperate, indiscreet zeal which was at that time too prev- 
alent, and was led from his high opinion of others whom he 
looked upon as better than himself, into such errors as were 
really contrary to the habitual temper of his mind." Then 
it was that those " imprudences and indecent heats," as he 
called them, found place in his diary, on account of which he 
afterwards on his death bed, consigned to the flames all the 
records of his feelings from January, 1741, to April, 1742. 
Then it was that when the rector of the College forbade his 
going to the separate meeting, he went in defiance of author- 
ity. Then it was that, on one occasion, after Mr. Whittel- 
sey had been praying with the students in the College Hall, 
and had uttered his devout desires with more than usual pa- 
thos of expression, David Brainerd replied to a question by 
one of his zealous companions : " He has no more grace than 
this chair." 

If what I have already quoted from Mr. Whittelsey's pri- 
vate journal, is not sufficient to show his humility, his 
jealousy of himself, his hungering and thirsting after right- 
eousness, and his dependence upon Christ alone, and thus to 
demonstrate the slanderousness of Brainerd's rash judgment 
respecting him ; let us examine a little farther the con- 
tents of this worn and broken leaf from the journal of the 
man whom Brainerd, inoculated with censoriousness, pro- 
nounced to be destitute of grace. Under the date of " Mon- 
day, July 6," 1739, he says, " Yesterday was sacrament, at 
which I renewed my covenant, at least externally, with the 
Lord Jesus Christ, having set apart the day before for prepa- 
ration by fasting and prayer, and examination of my own 
heart. But I could not obtain that satisfaction as to my 
estate Godward, which I earnestly desire, and without which 
I cannot, and I pray God I may not be easy. My difficulty 



247 

is chiefly for fear I was never brought thoroughly off from 
myself and my dependence on my own works for accept- 
ance with God, and to resign myself up entirely into the 
hands of a holy and sovereign God, and actually to close 
with, and receive Christ Jesus for my alone and all-sufficient 
Saviour, as my prophet, priest and king. Yet I feel in my 
soul some working so much like it, if it is not genuine, that 
I cannot entirely renounce my hopes. O Lord ! let me not 
be deceived." " I am resolved, by Divine grace, that I will 
spend my time more carefully, and watchfully, and account- 
ably for the future, knowing that that, and all my other tal- 
ents, are not my own, but only lent to me to be improved j 
and that I have also dedicated them to the Lord. O how ex- 
ceedingly have I come short of my obligations ! Lord, for- 
give me, for Christ's sake ; and enable me to live more to 
thine honor and glory hereafter. O whither shall I go but 
unto thee ? Lord, help me under all my darkness and diffi- 
culty, for thy mercy's sake alone !" 

" August 2d, Sabbath evening," he writes again, " This 
day I joined with the Church of Christ in this place in cele- 
brating the sacrament of the Lord's supper." Then, having 
spoken of the lifelessness of his feelings in the ordinance, he 
adds, " I fear there is nothing right in me towards the Lord 
my God. But if there is, I have some way provoked the 
Spirit of God to withdraw from me. I am exceedingly de- 
pressed by my sins. Lord let me not be deceived for thy 
name's sake, for thy mercy's sake ! For thy Son's sake have 
pity on me, and save me !" 

The next date is "August 7th, Friday." " I have been 
all this week, and am still, exceedingly in the dark. O my 
sin ! my guilt ! Without Christ I see no way possible but 
that I must perish eternally. O Lord, let not what he has 
done and suffered be in vain to my soul. O that Christ might 
be mine, and I his. Surely, O Lord, there is none in heaven 
like unto thee, nor any on earth to be compared with thee." 
— " O can a holy God have pity on such a sinner as I have 
been ? From such a lump of deformity as my heart, can 



248 

there be created a vessel of honor for the service of the great 
God ? Lord, with thee all things are possible." 

I might say now, if I supposed that there were any doubt 
here respecting the piety of this man, Compare these breath- 
ings of penitence and devotion with any parallel passages in 
Brainerd's own journal, and tell me whether even Brainerd's 
records seem more like the broken heart and the contrite 
spirit which God will not despise, or more like a heart that 
knows its own deceitfulness. But I choose rather to call 
your attention to another view. Brainerd, who always felt 
whatever he did feel with all his soul, and who knew as little 
as a child, of the analysis of complicated motives and emo- 
tions, — Brainerd, carried away with a gust of inconsiderate 
zeal and a spirit of censoriousness caught by his quick sym- 
pathy with others, and admiring the passionate extravagances 
of the wandering Davenport, saw nothing which seemed to 
him like the grace of God, in the staid, self-possessed, deco- 
rous piety of tutor Whittelsey. To him, the tutor's prayers 
against self-deception, and for a knowledge of the deceitful- 
ness of the heart, however fervent and pathetic, however full 
of humiliation and contrition, seemed formal and dead, com- 
pared with the freedom and fearlessness, the familiarity and 
vulgarity of the itinerants, whose preaching caused so great 
an excitement. The rector and tutors, on the other hand, 
were very naturally dissatisfied with that sort of piety, which 
was inconsistent not only with what they esteemed decorum, 
but with the order of College, and with a due attention to the 
daily duty of study. They were alarmed at the growing 
propensity among the students to violate not only the rules 
of College, but the law of the land, by running away from 
the appointed place of worship to the separate meeting. 
They probably had an eye on Brainerd, as one who would 
be likely by his religious zeal to come into conflict with 
their authority. And very likely they were quite willing to 
be rid of him, and to inflict a signal blow upon the intemper- 
ate spirit of the times, by dealing sternly with him for that 
calumnious censure of his superior. Accordingly, Brainerd 



249 

was disgraced and expelled ; and though he afterwards made 
ample and penitent confession of all that was wrong in his 
conduct on that occasion, he could not be restored. They 
doubtless had as low an idea of his piety, as he, in his most 
censorious mood, had of theirs. Their common error had a 
common cause. They judged of each other by a wrong 
standard. They yielded to their feelings, their party preju- 
dices, their antipathies. Brainerd was a child of God, though 
he was carried away by the unhappy extravagances of the 
times, — even then the processes were going on within him, 
by which the Spirit of God made him, afterwards, so illus- 
trious an example of holiness. He too, whom Brainerd pro- 
nounced graceless, was a child of God, notwithstanding his 
opposition to what Brainerd deemed the work of God ; — even 
then he was keeping his heart with all diligence, and strug- 
gling to bring every thought into subjection to the gospel.* 
In 1745, Mr. Whittelsey resigned his office in College, and 
for reasons which do not appear, relinquished his design of 
entering into the ministry, and settled in this place as a mer- 
chant. He continued in business about ten years. During 
all that time he was an active member of this Church and 
Society. He was brought forward by his fellow citizens into 
political life. He represented this town in the General As- 
sembly of the colony, and " in a variety of public trusts he 
discharged himself with fidelity and growing influence." 
At length, after the affairs of the Society had arrived at the 
greatest perplexity, the members and partisans of the separa- 
ting congregation having become a majority in all society 
meetings, and the efforts to obtain the services of the Col- 
lege professor of divinity, as assistant minister, having proved 

* Peabody (Life of Brainerd, 274) says in regard to the language so un- 
fortunately uttered against Mr. Whittelsey, that it was " a phrase which that 
individual fully justified by his subsequent proceedings." Wliat knowledge 
he has of Mr. Whittelsey's subsequent proceedings, he does not inform us. 
There is no particle of evidence, that the proceedings of the College govern- 
ment were instigated or directed by the injured individual. It may be pre- 
sumed, that, so far as the College government is to be blamed, the blame be- 
longs rliiofly to the rector. 

32 



250 

unsuccessful, the Cliurch with entire unanimity elected Mr. 
Whittelsey to be colleague pastor with Mr. Noyes. The 
concurrence of the Society, as a legal body, was of course 
out of the question ; for the Church and those who adhered 
to the old pastor had already become a separate meeting, 
with a place of worship erected by themselves. Instead of 
this, the members of the congregation worshiping with the 
Church, united in a subscription to a paper expressing their 
preference of Mr. Whittelsey, and pledging him a support in 
case of his settlement as pastor of the Chiu'ch. Accordingly 
a council was convened, at the call of Mr. Noyes and the 
Church, on the last day of February, 1758. The Churches 
of Cheshire, North Haven, North Branford, Meriden. Milford, 
East Guilford, West Haven, and Amity, were present by 
their pastors and delegates. The vote of the Church, and 
the call and pledge by the members of the congregation, were 
laid before the council ; and it was also shown that the 
Church in electing Mr. Whittelsey, "had proceeded regu- 
lai'ly by the advice of the Association's committee and some 
neighboring ministers beside." A committee from the First 
Society in New Haven, appeared before the council and pre- 
sented a vote of the Society, " declaring against the ordina- 
tion of Mr. Whittelsey or any other candidate." The argu- 
ments and considerations ofiered by the committee in behalf 
of the Society were heard by the council ; and then the com- 
mittee of the Church was heard in reply. The decision of 
the council was, " that there had been no sufficient objec- 
tions made against their proceeding;" and of course they 
proceeded to the customary examination of the candidate, 
which occupied the remainder of the day. The next morn- 
ing when the council assembled, the Society's committee 
appeared again, and moved for liberty of an appeal, request- 
ing that the affair of the ordination of Mr. Whittelsey might 
be laid aside, and removed from this ordaining council to the 
consideration and determination of the whole Consociation 
of the county. After mature consideration, " the council 
were of opinion that our ecclesiastical constitution made no 



251 

provision (or, nor warranted appeals of that sort." Mr. Whit- 
telsey was accordingly " separated to the work of the gospel 
ministry, and inducted into the pastoral ofiice in and over the 
first Church and congregation of New Haven."* 

At this time, Mr. Whittelsey was in the fortieth year of 
his age. His ministry, though begun so late in life, and in 
circumstances so inauspicious, was long peaceful, and for the 
age in which he labored, prosperous. The Church and con- 
gregation were perfectly united in him ; and during the whole 
period of his ministry, there appears to have been no division 
among them, and no alienation of their affections from him. 

I have said his ministry was prosperous, for the age in 
which he labored. This remark may need some explana- 
tion. That age was in several respects unfavorable to the 
prosperity of religion. The " religious commotion," as Ed- 
wards calls it, of 1740, or more strictly the extravagance of 
action and of opinion into which that revival degenerated, 
was long followed by a lamentable reaction. He who reads 
the letters of President Edwards during the latter years of 
his life, will find many strong testimonies to this. Let me 
give one or two specimens. The first is from a letter written 
as early as 1750. " It is indeed now a sorrowful time on 
this side of the ocean. Iniquity abounds, and the love of 
many waxes cold. Multitudes of fair and high professors, 
in one place and another, have sadly backslidden , sinners 
are desperately hardened ; experimental religion is more than 
ever out of credit with the far greater part ; and the doc- 
trines of grace, and those principles in religion that do chiefly 
concern the power of godliness, are far more than ever dis- 
carded. Arminianism and Pelagianism have made a strange 
progress within a few years." — " Many professors are gone 
off to great lengths in enthusiasm and extravagance in their 
notions and practices. Great contentions, separations, and 
confusions in our religious state, prevail in many parts of the 
land."t In the same connection, he mentions the fact that 

* Church records. t Dwijrht. Life of Edward'^. 413. 



252 

not a few had been drawn off from the Congregational wor- 
ship, to a conformity with the Church of England ; so that 
the numbers of that denomination in New England, had 
been multiplied threefold within seven years. In another 
letter, dated in 1751, he says, " There are undoubtedly very 
many instances in New England, in the whole, of the per- 
severance of such as were thought to have received the sav- 
ing benefits of the late revival of religion, and of their con- 
tinuing to walk in newness of life and as becomes saints, — 
instances which are incontestible and which men must be 
most obstinately blind not to see ; but I believe the propor- 
tion here is not so great as in Scotland. I cannot say, that 
the greater part of supposed converts give reason, by their 
conversation, to suppose that they are true converts. The 
proportion may perhaps be more truly represented, by the 
proportion of the blossoms on a tree which abide and come 
to mature fruit, to the whole number of blossoms in the 
spring."* 

The religious contentions which sprung up in so many 
places in connexion with, or soon after, the " religious com- 
motion" of 1740 — the aUenation of Church from Church, 
and minister from minister, and party from party, the jeal- 
ousy, the recriminations, the strife, and in many instan- 
ces the settled hostility, — were greatly unfavorable to the 
progress of religion. When ministers and Churches ex- 
communicate each other, and refuse to hold fraternal in- 
tercourse, because of differences that do not directly affect 
the essentials of Christianity ; the surest effect, if not the 
first, IS that religion falls into contempt. Such was, to a 
painful extent, the state of the Churches generally in New 
England through the latter half of the last century. Such 
was particularly the religious state of this community, for a 
great portion .of that period. The violent rending of the 
White Haven Church from this, produced a wound which 
continued long unhealed. Mr. Bird was dismissed at the be- 
ginning of the year 1768 ; and, one year afterwards, the Rev. 

^ Dwight, Life of Edwards, 460. 



253 

Jonathan Edwards was ordained to the pastoral office in tliat 
Society. But this event, instead of putting an end to con- 
tentions previously existing, gave rise to a new division. A 
very considerable minority protested against the ordination of 
Mr. Edwards ; but their objections were overruled by the 
ordaining council, it being hoped that the great talents of the 
pastor would unite the congregation. The opposition, how- 
ever, instead of diminishing, increased, and about two years 
after the ordination of Edwards, another Church was formed 
by secession from his. This secession was incorporated as 
the Fair Haven Society ; and, under the ministry of the Rev. 
AUyn Mather, it became in a few years the most numerous 
Society of the three. It was not in any orderly manner, nor 
by any consent of the parties, or of neighboring Churches, 
that this secession was effected. The division in many re- 
spects greatly resembled that which took place in 1742. And 
the three Churches, instead of uniting in any affectionate 
communion or in any willing cooperation for the common 
cause, united only in exposing religion to contempt, and in 
weakening the power of Christian institutions by their mu- 
tual hostility. That in such an age religion was not pros- 
perous, will not seem wonderful. 

That too was the age of the revolution. The preparation 
for the revolution, the long continued excitement of anxiety 
and alarm, at one measure and another attempted for the en- 
tire subjection of the Colonies to the crown or to the parlia- 
ment, filled all men's hearts and thoughts. The interests at 
stake were the grandest interests of time, and when such in- 
terests were thus invaded, and men were gradually becoming 
inflamed for war, and arming themselves for combat, — who 
that knows the nature of man and the methods in which 
God ordinarily dispenses his grace, could expect religion to 
be prosperous ? 

And when at last the time of deadly conflict came, great 
as was the demand for faith in God, and for the highest and 
most heroic virtues, — who does not know that it was a time 
rather for the exercise and expenditure of virtues already 



254 

acquired, than for the diffusion of the influences of rehgion 
over the common mind ? The time of war, of imminent and 
universal danger, of civil conflict, of revolution, when all 
foundations are breaking up, if it is a time when he that is 
holy may be holy still, is also a time when he that is filthy 
will be filthy still. Think of those days ; think what a con- 
flict it was when only three millions of people, to a great ex- 
tent disorganized, disunited except by the pressure of a com- 
mon danger and the bond of a common zeal for liberty, — 
dared to resist the power of the British empire. " If it had 
not been the Lord that was on our side, may Israel say, if it 
had not been the Lord that was on our side, when men rose 
up against us ; then had they swallowed us up quick, when 
their wrath was kindled against us." How naturally was 
this text chosen by Mr. Whittelsey as the theme of discourse 
on a day of national thanksgiving,* while the war was raging, 
and while God was interposing with some of those remarka- 
ble providences which make the history of those years so in- 
teresting. How ought we, in view of the perils through 
which the God of our fathers conducted these States to com- 
plete political independence, to adopt as our own that ancient 
language of Hebrew devotion. 

I find among the papers of Mr. Whittelsey, a note dated 
August 4, 1776, communicating to him a circular from Gov- 
ernor Trumbull, with the request that it be read at the close 
of public worship, and that the authority in this Society, and 
the committee of inspection, be invited to meet with the se- 
lect men the next day. As there is a peculiar vividness in 
the impressions which such documents give us, I need not 
apologize for presenting it. The circular is addressed " to 
the civil authority, select men, committee of inspection, and 
all military oflicers in the town of New Haven," and is dated 
" Lebanon, August 1, 1776." The Governor says, " As I 
have the most pressing requisitions, urging the absolute ne- 
cessity of having our new levies filled up, completed and for- 



*MS. 



255 

warded with the utmost dispatch ; and as delay may be 
attended with the utmost disastrous consequences, our ene- 
mies being about to use their utmost exertions as soon as the 
foreign troops arrive, which by the best intelhgence are now 
on our coast, if not in port ; — therefore in this critical mo- 
ment, on which the fate of America depends, I do most ear- 
nestly entreat you all, as you value your lives, liberty, prop- 
erties, and your country, that you immediately and vigor- 
ously exert all your influence, power and abilities, in encour- 
aging and forwarding the enlistments within your respective 
spheres of influence and connections, that the same may be 
completed and sent forward with all possible expedition." 

What a contrast between our peaceful Sabbaths, and those 
days when all the might of Britain was raised to crush our 
fathers in the act of asserting their constitutional liberty, and 
when the note of alarm calling the people to struggle against 
fearful odds for all their dearest interests, was sounded from 
the pulpit. Must not the prayers that went up to God in 
those times from the public assembly, have groaned with the 
burthen of the country's peril ? On the back of this circular, 
I find, in the hand writing of Mr. Whittelsey, a prayer, ob- 
viously prompted by the occasion, and obviously designed to 
be incorporated with the public prayers of the day. It is in 
these words : — 

" O thou Most High ! as thou wast pleased to speak by thy 
prophet to Rehoboam and the people of Judah and Benjamin, 
so be pleased in thy providence to speak to the king of Great 
Britain and Ireland, Ye shall not go up nor fight against your 
brethren, but return every man to his house. And thus, 
without the farther effusion of blood, O God most high and 
gracious ! may tranquillity be restored to the nation and to 
these American States. As thou didst then influence the 
minds of the men of Judah and Benjamin to refrain from the 
destruction of their brethren, so, O God ! in whose hands are 
the hearts of all men, thou canst easily influence the minds 
of those who are invading our land, and threatening to lay 
us waste. Would to God that they might be influenced to 
desist from their cruel and destructive designs." 



256 

The public worship of this Church, it is beUeved, was not 
interrupted during the war. Other Churches were broken up ; 
the congregations scattered ; the ministers sometimes mur- 
dered, or compelled to flee ; the houses of worship sometimes 
burned, and sometimes turned into barracks or stables by 
the enemy. Through the whole war, the hostile forces, 
knowing how much of the spirit of independence in the 
country was to be ascribed to the influence of our reli- 
gious institutions, seemed to bear a particular malice against 
both meeting-houses and ministers of all denominations but 
one ; and that one sustained such relations to the govern- 
ment of the parent country, that the peculiarity of its po- 
sition is easily accounted for. In this place, as in most 
other places, the Episcopal Church was closed from the time 
when it became unlawful to pray for the king as our king, 
till the time when the recognition of our independence made 
it canonical to omit praying for him. Some ministers of 
that denomination, like the late excellent Bishop White of 
Pennsylvania, who was one of the chaplains to Congress, 
yielded to their patriotic sympathies, and felt that no vow 
of canonical obedience could be of force to annihilate their 
duty to their country. Others, whose conscientiousness 
ought not to be questioned, while their hearts were on the 
side of the country, were perplexed by their ecclesiastical 
subjection to the Church of England ; and in the absence 
of any ecclesiastical authority in this country which they 
could recognize, they dared not deviate from the forms and 
orders of the English liturgy. Nor are those to be judged 
harshly, whose sympathies in the conflict were altogether 
with the parent country. England was as their home ; 
thence they had long received their subsistence ; thither they 
had long been accustomed to look with grateful and humble 
veneration ; there were their patrons and spiritual superiors ; 
and there were all their hopes of prevailing against the dis- 
senters, and of building up in this western world, what they 
esteemed the only true Church. No Church has gained more 
than theirs, by the very revolution which they so dreaded ; 



257 

for that revolution gave to their Church ecclesiastical inde- 
pendence, and the power of self-reformation. 

This place you know was in one instance visited by the 
enemy, and was marked for conflagration. But by the bles- 
sing of God upon the vigorous resistance made by the citi- 
zens, the invaders were kept at bay till the inhabitants gen- 
erally had escaped with the most valuable part of their mov- 
able property ; and till the enemy, knowing that the whole 
force of the country around would soon be down upon them, 
were glad, after an hour of hasty plunder, to make their es- 
cape without accomplishing their design. Thus New Ha- 
ven was saved from the flames which, within a few days after- 
wards, destroyed so many of the towns upon this coast. 

In one instance, at least, while the war was in progress, 
the several Churches so far forgot their dissentions and preju- 
dices, as to unite spontaneously in the appointment of a day 
of special prayer and fasting.* Our fathers believed in the 
efficacy of prayer. They believed that contending in a 
righteous cause, and committing that cause to God, their pros- 
pect of success even in the darkest times, was fairer than 
that of their enemies. But neither prayer nor fasting hin- 
dered them from the most strenuous effort. On the contrary, 

* From Stiles's Lit. Diary, Aug. 12th, 1779. " Tuesday, last week, the 
ministers of the township of New Haven, met voluntarily, and agreed to 
propose to their Churches a voluntary Fast, on account of the distressing 
calamities and peculiar danger of the seaports ; proposing Thursday, 12th 
inst. as the day. This was laid before the Churches and congregations last 
Lord's day, and approved. This day the nine Churclies in the several pa- 
rishes in this town observed, as a day of solemn fasting, prayer, and humilia- 
tion. It was observed here with great decency and apparent solemnity, the 
militia attending divine service. I went to Mr. Edwards's meeting in the 
forenoon. Mr. Whittelsey's and Mr. Mather's Churches agreed to meet 
together in Mr. Whittelsey's ineeting house, which they did ; as Mr. Mather 
is in ill health it relieved him of one exercise. I attended Mr. Whittelsey's, 
P. M., when he preached upon Isaiah xlviii; 9 — 11. The presence of God 
seemed to be with us all the day. Blessed be God that he has put it into 
the hearts of his people to seek to him in the hour of distress, especially now 
that we arc threatened with the return of the enemy to lay New Haven, &c. 
in ashes. May God prepare us for his holy and sovereign will. I have great 
hope in God, that through his undeserved protection we shall be -spared," 

33 



258 

the same confidence in God which bowed their knees in 
prayer, made their arms strong in battle.* 

At length peace came ; and the land so long exhausted, 
began to revive. Then how did the temples of God ring 
with rejoicing! What joy was that when, after seven long 
years of desperate war, the great point in that bloody debate 
was carried ; and Britain and the world acknowledged the 
independent sovereignty of the United States. Then began 
a new era in the history of our Churches. Then no longer 
in conflict, no longer in fear, the successors of the Puritan 
fathers, were to try anew, in new circumstances, and upon 
the widest field of action, the efficacy of their principles. 

Mr, Whittelsey survived the termination of the war only 
about four years. He died on the 24th of July, 1787, in the 
seventieth year of his age, and in the thirtieth year of his 
ministry. His grave, like those of his predecessors, is cov- 
ered by this sanctuary. 

In the sermon preached at his funeral by President Stiles, 
and in that preached on the following Sabbath by Dr. Dana, 
we have a full delineation of his character. 

" In this candlestick," says Dr. Stiles, ''he has shone as 
a burning and shining light for about thirty years. He de- 
voted himself to the work, and applied to the theological 
studies, and the duties of the pastoral office, wit\i an ardor, 
zeal and assiduity equalled by few and exceeded by none. 
You are witnesses, and God also, how he has behaved him- 
self among you, how he has warned every one with tears, 
how he has preached the unsearchable riches of Christ, and 
pressed and exhorted your reception of him with apostolic 
zeal and fervor. With a lively and animated ministry has 



* Hutchinson, having mentioned in hii5 history (I, 230) one of those days 
of fasting which were so frequent in the early age of Massachusetts, apolo- 
gizes in a note by saying, " Their dependence on these days was not such 
as caused them to neglect any other means in their power for promoting the 
public weal." The soldier who conforms to the first part of Cromwell's 
motto, will not be likely to neglect the second, " Put your trust in God, and 
keep your powder dry." 



259 

he appeared for a series of years in this desk, and displayed 
the redemption of the cross, and as an ambassador of the 
prince of peace, persuaded you to be reconciled unto God. 
And this his zeal burned to the last, and shone with flaming 
brightness in the sermons, with which he closed his ministry 
among you, so lately as but the Sabbath before the last. 

" His elocution was loud and sonorous, it was curt and pa- 
thetic, it was pungent and striking ; and yet I know it would 
not stand the criticism of Athenian rhetoric. There was a 
certain life and vigor, a certain engagedness in his manner, 
which impressed the auditory with a conviction, that he was 
in earnest in his Lord's work, that he was solemnly in ear- 
nest upon the most momentous concerns, upon which he 
spake with a seraph's zeal and with all the fervor of a burn- 
ing oratory. He was a Boanerges, a son of thunder, a Bar- 
nabas, a son of consolation. 

" His favorite subjects were the glories and excellences of 
Christ, the majesty of God, the atonement and righteouness 
of the Redeemer as the sole foundation of pardon, the grace 
of the gospel, the necessity of a life of holiness and moral 
virtue, and the glories of the heavenly world. But while he 
was a bold and open advocate for moral virtue, yet often 
have we heard him preach from this desk, that in point of 
justification there was no righteousness which could procure 
our acceptance with a holy God, but that of the Mediator. 

"In his life and general conversation, he was virtuous and 
benevolent. He had a singular talent at accommodating 
himself v;ith ease to all characters, high and low, rich and 
poor. He had always something entertaining, instructive 
and edifying, something that made religion pleasant and 
agreeable. He was exceeding careful to avoid vilifying oth- 
ers, even his enemies ; but was disposed to think and say 
good and kind things of all, and to live in love and benevo- 
lence with all, though they differed from himself in some 
material things. He went about doing good, and carried the 
savor of a cheerful, heavenly life in his conversation, speak- 
ing familiarly of the things of religion, heaven, immortality, 



260 

and the blessed society and beatific glories of the upper 
world. For many years he has expressed a most confiden- 
tial hope, and I think I may say, an assurance of a happy 
eternity, which continued with him to the last. He always 
founded his hope on the grace of God and the merit of the 
Redeemer, and an inward consciousness that it would be his 
chief, his supreme joy to spend an eternity in the bosom of 
Jesus, and among the spirits of just men made perfect ; and 
this he hoped had been wrought in him by the Spirit of God 
and the power of his grace. 

" But the time fails me to enlarge further on these or other 
traits of his character, — on his love of liberty, civil and 7'eli~ 
gious, — on his patriotism, — on his Catholicism and charity 
to his fellow Christians ; not only towards those who agreed 
with him in sentiment, but towards those who widely, very 
widely difiered from him ; and on his being a friend to order 
and good government in Church and State. 

"But while I say these great and good things of our de- 
ceased friend, far be it from me to be an advocate for the per- 
fection of any human character. He had his imperfections. 
Yet when we consider how incident it is to characters of his 
magnitude, as well as others, in the course of a long life to 
make some capital mistake in conduct, or stumble upon some 
capital if not essential error or singularity in religion, it is 
rather to be admired that Mr. Whittelsey should have by 
Providence been carried through life so securely from both 
these. It must be a satisfaction upon scrutinizing a charac- 
ter, while we find many excellent things in it, to find only 
the common infirmities of human nature, to be covered with 
the mantle of charity, and the white robes of the Redeemer's 
righteousness." 

The more polished and studied eulogium pronounced by 
Dr. Dana, while it coincides with the testimony of President 
Stiles, has one or two touches which indicate the character 
of the author quite as much as of the subject. Yet all is ex- 
pressed with so much caution and truth, as well as beauty, 
that to attempt any correction would be to mar the picture. 



261 

'' The foundation of Mr. Whittelsey's eminence in life was 
laid in superior natural endowments and an early thirst for 
knowledge. Suavity of temper and dignity of manners, 
with an early and decided choice of religion, commanded 
respect. From youth to old age he had a reputation which 
is better than gold. 

" During his residence at the university as an instructor, 
and his after employment in merchandise and civil life, he 
acquired an accurate and extensive knowledge of men and 
things, and a large acquaintance with principal characters at 
home and abroad. These were desirable accessions to his 
special accomplishments for the ministry. Preferring the 
employment in which he might best promote the immortal 
and most important interests of mankind, he relinquished 
worldly prospects which would have allured most minds. 

"He was distinguished as a gentleman, scholar, Christian 
and divine. He united the greatest affability with true dig- 
nity. Philanthropy, integrity and firmness strongly marked 
his character. He scattered the wicked with his eye. Pos- 
sessing in a high degree the friendly and social affections, his 
conversation was always savory, enlivening and improving. 
His hospitality to his numerous friends was supported by econ- 
omy and discretion in all his temporal affairs, and a rare ac- 
tivity and promptitude in every business he undertook. He 
discerned the proper time and opportunity for every purpose, 
the modes and seasons of address, and knew well how to 
redeem time. 

" Numbers of first distinction in Church and State, having 
been his pupils, their known reverence and love of one who 
had imbued their minds with science and virtue, is his high- 
est encomium. 

" Thoroughly read in history, particularly ecclesiastical, 
he saw the errors and corruptions which have crept into the 
Church through a zeal for dictating in matters of faith, and 
was himself perfectly satisfied with the protestant confession. 
He was no disputatious theologist, but a practical rather than 
a controversial preacher. Persuaded of the truth of Christian- 



262 

ity, and deeply sensible of its importance, he was well able 
to defend it. In this cause he «et his face as a flint. He la- 
mented the decline of professors and prevalence of infidelity. 
Never ashamed of the gospel, he magnified his ofirce by incul- 
cating the doctrines of grace in connection with, and as mo- 
tives to, evangelical holiness ; by exhibiting the sacred Scrip- 
tures, not human systems, as the rule of faith ; by ruling well 
the Church of God ; and being an ensample to the flock. 

"He was attached to the Congregational discipline. At 
the same time, being a consistent protestant, he asserted the 
equal rights of all denominations, and was open to the full 
influence of that charity which ' seeketh not her own, think- 
eth no evil, hopeth all things.' 

" In preaching, his aim was to enlighten the mind and im- 
prove the heart. Perspicuity and forcible reasoning, energy 
of language and manner, elevation of thought, and original- 
ity of composition distinguished his discourses from the pul- 
pit. Feeling the truth, dignity and importance of his sub- 
ject, in composing his sermons, he seemed to have caught 
the fervor of St. Paul in delivering them. 
t " This evangelical minister revered the character of Em- 
manuel, and preached Jesus Christ and him crucified as the 
only foundation of acceptance with God. He was indeed a 
workman who needed not to be ashamed. With the activ- 
ity, zeal and perseverance, he united the humility and pru- 
dence, the meekness and gentleness of Paul. With him he 
attended continually on his ministry, ' teaching publicly and 
from house to house, warning every one night and day, and 
teaching with all wisdom, that he might present every man 
perfect in Christ.' 

" He possessed the gift and spirit of prayer above most of 
his brethren. Grace was poured into his lips in public and 
private, on all occasions. How have we been edified and 
warmed with the variety, copiousness and pertinency of his 
prayers ! Such was the elevation of his heart in devotion, 
that he seemed to be caught up to hcav^cn. 



263 

" Diligent to know the state of his flock, and nntnrally car- 
ing for it, his pastoral visits were frequent, and judiciously- 
conducted. He ' opened his mouth with wisdom.' His heart 
was open to the tenderest sensibility, and in all your afflic- 
tions he was afliicted. He presided over his flock with fidel- 
ity and impartiality, with gravity and dignity ; and made 
himself servant unto all, that he might gain the more. 

" His religion was equally free from afl^ected austerity, and 
from levity of temper, from bigotry and indifference. He 
could address you, as Paul the Corinthians, ' Not that we 
have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy. 
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.' 

" Amidst the intricacies of providence, allotments not joy- 
ous but grievous, he exhibited a serenity of temper and joy 
in divine government, which manifested the commanding 
influence of the faith that overcomes the world. He had 
learned to glory in tribulation. 

" The course of the ministry which he fulfilled with you 
was twenty nine years and upwards. How he took heed to 
fulfil it, let those say who were best acquainted. You, my 
brethren, knew his manner of life from his youth to the day 
of his departure — after what manner he conversed, taught 
and lived ; how he was with you at all seasons, serving the 
Lord with all humility, affection, and fervency, counseling, 
comforting, persuading, warning and admonishing, as a father 
his children — how he ' travailed in birth, that Christ might 
be formed in you.' 

"He wished not to exceed seventy years. According to 
his desire, his usefulness as well as life was protracted to this 
period. When it came, he closed the scene with the same 
serenity and constancy of mind as he had ever lived. He 
was ready to be offered, having like comfortable reflections 
in the review of his life and ministerial warfare as the holy 
apostle, and a like prospect of a crown of righteousness. His 
old age was amiably splendid as the clearly setting sun. His 
past days looked back upon him with the smile of friendship. 
And the morning of immortal felicity dawning on his soul, 



264 

gloriously irradiated the valley of death. We saw the aged 
saint commend his soul to God, full of faith, looking up sted- 
fastly into heaven, seeing the glory of God, and Jesus on his 
right hand." 

Those among us who remember this venerable man, are 
only a few ; but I have never heard one of them, or of the 
others who, since I have been here, have gone to the dead, 
speak of him but with a sort of affectionate veneration. 
When he died, the feeling found utterance among men of all 
parties and of the strongest prejudices, " that if any man had 
ever gone to heaven, good old Mr. Whittelsey had gone 
thither." 

I introduced his religious character to your view, by exhib- 
iting a leaf from the journal of his feelings in early life. We 
saw him struggling with perplexities, uttering the desires of 
a wounded spirit, and the groans of a broken heart, and 
hardly daring to indulge the hope which yet he dared not re- 
press. Ere we take our leave of him, I am permitted to 
show you, from another of his private papers, what were the 
exercises of his mind when his religious character had at- 
tained its full maturity. The paper now referred to, is an 
occasional memorandum, dated "April 8, 1767, Fast day." 

" I am now in the fiftieth year of my age. Looking back 
upon my life past, and looking into myself, I have great rea- 
son, O God ! to be deeply humbled in thy sight. 

" The advantages I have enjoyed have been very great ; 
but my unfruitfulness is a full proof that they have been but 
ill improved. 

" I now have, and for many years have had, a prevailing 
comfortable hope, through the grace of the gospel, that my 
eternity will be happy. 

" I cannot indeed but be astonished at this grace of God, 
astonished that there is any room for one so unworthy as I 
am, to hope. I truly appear to myself the chief of sinners ; 
nor is it easy for me to think any other in the world is so un- 
worthy as I am, or that any other of the redeemed will be 
so much beholden to free and rich grace as 1 shall. But it is 



265 

this very grace which, I do not say excites me to resolve I 
will be, but constrains me to be the servant of God and the 
Redeemer without reserve and forever. And yet since I have 
known this grace of God, how inactive, how forgetful, how 
worldly minded, how sensual, have I been. Many times 
that I can call to mind, the world, and at other times the 
flesh, have seemed for a season to have got the ascendant ; 
but fresh views of the extent and the exceeding riches of the 
grace of God in Christ, have encouraged me, and even con- 
strained me to hope afresh ; and it has been the language of 
my heart, in opposition to every lust and every worldly in- 
terest, 'I am the Lord's.' I have felt myself infinitely 
obliged and infinitely indebted, and have loved to feel my- 
self under these bonds. It is now pleasant to live, because 
I live upon God, and I see God in all, in all that befalls me, 
in every thing that surrounds me. Tt is pleasant to go to the 
throne of grace, not because I am worthy, but because there 
is grace sufficient for me altogether unworthy. It is pleasant 
to fight in the Christian warfare, even without any direct 
consideration of the crown which will be given to him that 
overcometh ; it is pleasant from the consideration of the 
leader and captain under whom, and the cause in which I 
am engaged, — a leader whose directions are infallible, and 
whose grace is all-sufficient, — and a cause in which all the 
excellent ones of the earth have been, and to the end will be, 
unitedly engaged. 

" Thus for days, it may be weeks, I go on, vigilant, cheer- 
ful, and I may even say happy. But in a little while, alas ! 
I seem to lose a sense of the grace of God, a sense of my 
Redeemer, and of my obligations. But then, again, fresh 
views of the extent of the exceeding riches of the grace of 
God in Christ, captivate, encourage and engage me afresh. 

" O thou God of all grace ! may these views be more and 
more lively, permanent and steady. I am never so happy as 
when every thought and imaghiation is brought into subjec- 
tion to the obedience of Christ. Then, the more firmly I 
can trust in the mercy and grace of God in Christ Jesus, the 

34 



266 

more entirely do I feel myself devoted to God, and the more 
resolved and ready to do every thing that God reqnires of 
me." 

Such were the devotional exercises of this good man, 
twenty years before his death. I may add here, that his 
friend Dr. Stiles was with him in his last moments. They 
had often conversed together about death and heaven ; and 
Mr. Whittelsey had for a long time expressed habitually a 
full assurance of hope, a confidence that knew no fear of dy- 
ing. Dr. Stiles was desirous to see the triumph of that con- 
fidence, in the hour of dissolution. He came into the room 
just as death was beginning. Taking his friend by the hand, 
he said, " Do you feel now the full assurance of hope ? If 
you would say yes, and cannot speak, answer me by the 
pressure of your hand. Do you feel now the full assurance 
of hope ?" The aged saint rallied his dying strength, and 
with a struggle answered distinctly, " Yes." His wife, chil- 
dren, and grandchildren, kneeled around the bed, — a few 
words of prayer and thanksgiving were uttered, and the 
mortal had put on immortality.* 

* Mr. Whittelsey 's published works were several occasional Sermons, the 
titles of which are subjoined : 

A Sermon occasioned by the death of Mrs. Abigail Noyes, 1768. 

A Sermon, preached at the ordination of Rev. .John Hubbard, in Meri- 
den, 1769. 

A Sermon at the funeral of Mrs. Mary Clap, relict of President Clap, 
1769. 

Election Sermon, 1778. 

Beside these, I have seen somewhere a printed Sermon of his, delivered 
about the year 1745, to a graduating class, of which he had been the prin- 
cipal instructor. 



DISCOURSE XIII. 

JAMES DANA AT WALLINGFORD AND NEW HAVEN. THE PAST 

AND THE PRESENT. 

EccLEsiASTES, vii, 10. — Say not thou, What is the cause that the former 
days were better than these ? for tliou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. 

As we approach the close of this history, and begin to 
touch upon the doings and reminiscences of the hving, our 
views must be more cursory, and we must advance with in- 
creasing rapidity. 

After the death of the venerable Whittelsey, the pulpit was 
supplied for a season, according to one of the most beautiful 
of the ecclesiastical usages in New England, by the neigh- 
boring pastors — each of the thirteen ministers who were pres- 
ent at the funeral, volunteering to give one Sabbath's service 
for the benefit of the widow of their deceased brother and 
father.* Immediately afterwards, the Rev. Dr. James Dana, 
of Wallingford, being at that time free from the labor of 
preaching in his own Church, was called in to supply the va- 
cant pulpit statedly. In January, 1789, the Church and So- 
ciety, with great unanimity, elected him their pastor ; and on 
the 29th of April, he was inducted into the pastoral office. 
Dr. Dana preached the sermon at his own installation, which 
I believe is the latest instance of that ancient usage in New 
England. Thus, in less than two years after the Church's 
bereavement, another pastor was harmoniously settled. 

Dr. Dana, at the time of his removal to this Church, was 
more than fifty years old. He was born at Cambridge in 
Massachusetts, about the year 1735, was educated at Harvard 
College, where he graduated in 1753, at the age of eighteen, 
after which he appears still to have resided at Cambridge for 
some time. In the year 1758, the Church in Wallingford, 
having been without a pastor ever since the death of Rev. 

* Stiles, Lit. Diary. 



268 

Samuel Whittelsey in 1752, and having been somewhat divi- 
ded into parties in consequence of hearing various candidates, 
was advised by some of the neighboring ministers to send to 
Cambridge for a new candidate. Accordingly a messenger 
was sent with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Appleton of Cambridge, 
the Rev. Dr. Chauncey of Boston, and the President of Har- 
vard College, asking them to nominate, and send to Walling- 
ford, some suitable and worthy candidate for the ministry in 
that place. Dr. Chauncey happening to be absent, the selec- 
tion of a candidate devolved on Pres. Holyoke and Dr. Ap- 
pleton ; and at their nomination, Mr. Dana was requested to 
come to Wallingford for settlement. 

This arrangement proved less happy for the Church and 
Society in Wallingford than was expected ; for though both 
the Church and the Society, with apparent harmony, united 
after a few weeks in giving Mr. Dana a call, the votmg of the 
call was immediately followed by the organization of a strong 
opposition, promoted, as was supposed, by some of the min- 
isters of the neighborhood. A council, selected according to 
the undisputed usage of those days, was invited to meet for 
the ordination. The opponents of Mr. Dana, on their part, 
determined to prevent his ordination, by bringing a complaint 
before the consociation of the county. The consociation was 
accordingly summoned to meet for the purpose of attending 
to a complaint against the regularity of the proceedings of 
the Church and Society, and against the orthodoxy of the 
candidate. Whether it was by accident or design, is not 
known ; but so it was, that the two councils, the one called 
by the Church and Society to ordain Mr. Dana, the other 
called by the minority to prevent his ordination, met in Wal- 
Ungford on the same day, — and a memorable day it was in 
the ecclesiastical history of Connecticut. The story is too 
long to be repeated here in detail. The various pamphlets 
that were published respecting the " Wallingford Contro- 
versy" in the day of it, are a volume.* Dr. Trumbull has 

* A Faithful Narrative, &c. By Jonathan Todd, A. M., a member of the 
ordaining council. — A few Remarks upon the ordination, &c. By William 



269 

related the particulars with great honesty of purpose, but not 
without some bias from his personal and party prejudices. 
Let it suflice to say here, that the Church and Society, and 
Mr. Dana, being cited to appear before the consociation, ap- 
peared and denied with strong arguments the jurisdiction of 
that council over any Church in such a case as that ; — that 
the ordaining council, though expressly and solemnly forbid- 
den by the consociation, went forward and ordained the candi- 
date ,• — that the consociation, finding themselves thus baffled, 
and perceiving that the affair was becoming very complicated, 
determined to call in the aid of the neighboring consociation 
of the southern district of Hartford county, and adjourned 
accordingly for three weeks; — that when at the appointed 
time the two consociations assembled in a joint meeting, Mr. 
Dana and the Church and Society still refused to acknowl- 
edge the jurisdiction of that body, as the case was then situ- 
ated ,• — and that the two consociations, after trying the case 
as well as they could when the parties to be tried refused to 
plead on any point but that of jurisdiction, declared the rela- 
tion between Mr. Dana and the Church and Society to be dis- 
solved ; — and finally, that after waiting several months to see 
the effect of their doings, they pronounced a sentence of non- 
communion against Mr. Dana and the Church, acknowledged 
the minority to be the consociated Church in the First Soci- 
ety in Wallingford, and denounced the ministers and dele- 
gates of the ordaining council " as disorderly persons, and 
not fit to sit in any of our ecclesiastical councils, until they 



Hart, A. M., Pastor of the First Church in Saybrook. — Some Serious Remarks 
upon the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Todd's Faithful Narrative, &c. By Edward 
Eeils, A. M., Pastor of the Second Church in Middletown. — The Principles 
of Congregational Churches, &c. By Noah Hobart, A. M., Pastor of the 
First Church in Fairfield. — A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Noah Hobart. By R. 
Wolcott. — Remarks on a pamphlet wrote by Mr. Hobart, &c. By William 
Hart. — A Vindication, &c. By Noah Hobart. — A Reply, &c. By ,Tona- 
tlian Todd : Together with an Answer, &c. By William Hart. — Some Re- 
marks upon the claims and doings of the Consociation, &c. By Andrew 
Bartholomew, A. M., Pastor of the Church in Harwinton. — The Walling- 
ford Case Stated, &c. 



270 

shall clear up their conduct to the satisfaction of the council 
of New Haven county." 

What added to the violence of these proceedings, was, that 
the controversy was at bottom a conflict between the old light 
and new light parties, not only in Wallingford and in New 
Haven county, but throughout the colony. Mr. Dana was of 
that party which had opposed the revival of religion ; his set- 
tlement in so large and important a Church, would be a tri- 
umph of that party, which had already become a minority in 
the county and in the colony ; and therefore the new light 
men were determined by all means to prevent the ordination, 
and when the thing was done, to undo it if possible. The 
old light party had previously attempted to use the peculiar 
constitution of the Connecticut Churches as an engine of op- 
pression. They had carried matters with a high hand while 
they had the power, iiiterfering arbitrarily with the rights of 
pastors and of Churches ; and now they found the very en- 
ginery which had been so convenient to them, turned against 
them. So true is it that they who take the sword shall per- 
ish by the sword, and that the violent shall find their vio- 
lent dealing coming down upon their own heads. So true is 
it, too, that when parties run high, no party can be trusted to 
guard any body's liberty or interests but their own. What- 
ever party happens to wield power, will make the most of it, 
if necessary to their party ends, though by contradicting all 
the professions and complaints of their weaker days. 

Mr. Dana and the ministers by whom he was ordained, be- 
ing thus excluded from all ecclesiastical and ministerial in- 
tercourse with the other pastors of the county, formed an 
association by themselves, which was upheld till tlie year 
1772, or later, when a sort of amnesty was proposed by the 
ministers who had formerly denounced them, parties, — and 
persons too, — having changed in the mean time.* 

From that great Wallingford controversy and a few sim- 
ilar conflicts, one result has arisen of no small importance to 

"* Stiles, Lit. Diary. 



271 

the Churches. I have already had occasion to show, that 
the Saybrook Articles of DiscipHne, commonly called the 
Saybrook Platform, were originally a compromise between 
two parties, the one inclined to a high Presbyterian form of 
government, the other holding strongly the great Congrega- 
tional principle, of the competency and inalienable liberty of 
each particular Church to manage its own affairs. Hence 
that instrument has always been subject to two diverse in- 
terpretations. The one, which may be called the Presbyte- 
rian construction, gives to the consociation of the district a 
general and complete superintendency over the Churches, 
condemns all other councils as irregular, and claims for the 
decisions of the consociation, in cases of appeal, a juridical 
authority, so that they are to take effect not by the consent 
or acquiescence of the Church appealed from, but by their 
own intrinsic power. The other, which we may call the 
Congregational construction, maintains, that the Congrega- 
tional principle of the liberty of every particular Church is 
unimpaired by the Platform, and that the consociation is 
nothing else than a council of Congregational Churches, con- 
vened and organized by a particular rule. In 1740, and for 
a few years after, when the " old lights" were the majority, 
and were oppressing Mr. Robbins of Branford, and Mr. Al- 
len of West Haven, they were of course great sticklers for 
the consociation, and for the Presbyterian construction of its 
powers ; and then it was that the " new light" party in New 
Haven were so deeply aggrieved, because Mr. Noyes and the 
Church had declared this Church to be under the Saybrook 
Platform, that Messrs. Cook, Bellamy, and other new light 
ministers, for that one reason, proceeded to organize them 
into a separate and independent Church, — a Church in which 
the original prejudice against consociations is alive and vig- 
orous at this day. In 1759, when by the change of parties 
the " new lights" were no longer a minority, they in their 
turn had become strict upholders of the Presbyterian con- 
struction of the Platform ; and then it was that Mr. Noyes 
and Mr. Whittelsey, the colleague pastors of this Church, 



272 

were by a vote of the consociation condemned " as disorderly- 
persons and not fit to sit in any of our ecclesiastical coun- 
cils," so that this Church has been for eighty years as effect- 
ually alienated from consociations as the other. Thus the 
Presbyterian construction of the constitution having been 
tried on all sides both actively and passively, has in the pro- 
gress of time been pretty generally abandoned ; consociations 
have learned that if they are to do any good, nay, if they are 
to have any being, it must be as Congregational councils, 
and not as Presbyteries. The spirit of Congregationalism, 
such as Congregationalism was when Thomas Hooker and 
John Davenport and the synod at Cambridge were its ex- 
pounders, prevails throughout the Churches of Connecticut, 
and with perhaps a few exceptions, throughout the ministry. 
Mr. Dana being introduced to the pastoral oiRce in such 
circumstances, was of course a man of suspected orthodoxy. 
Probably his theological views when he began to preach, 
were those which in that day were becoming prevalent in 
the region about Boston, — views which there, in the course 
of one or two generations, beginning with opposition to the 
extravagances and enthusiasm of the revival, and growing 
into opposition to what was called bigotry and superstition, 
ripened into Unitarianism. It is commonly reported how- 
ever, that as he advanced in the ministry, his opinions on 
the great points of Christian doctrine became more sound, 
and his feelings more evangelical. However this may be, 
it is certain that as the ministers and Churches of Connecti- 
cut began to be better acquainted with him, and to recover 
from the fright occasioned by the extraordinary manner in 
which he was settled, they were constrained to recognize 
him as a man of great talents and learning, of great judg- 
ment and prudence in the management of affairs, of great 
fearlessness and conscientiousness in performing what he 
conceived to be his duty, and of eminent public usefulness. 
And when the " old light" and " new hght" parties were 
superseded by parties founded on the differences between the 
"old divinity" and the new, Dr. Dana, who at an early age 



273 

was honored by a theological doctorate from the Univer- 
sity of Edinburgh, became a strong defender of the "old di- 
vinity" against the opinions, of which Dr. Bellamy, Dr. Hop- 
kins, Dr. West of Stockbridge, and Dr. Edwards, were the 
fathers and supporters. Some of the peculiarities of the " new 
divinity" which Dr. Dana opposed, were the denial of the im- 
putation of Adam's sin to his posterity, — the assertion of 
man's natural ability to love God and keep his command- 
ments, — the denial of the tendency or fitness of the means 
of regeneration to accomplish their end, — the hypothesis 
that sin, in all instances in which it occurs, is on the whole 
better for the universe than holiness would be in its place, 
and is therefore not merely permitted by the Father of lights, 
but preferred to holiness in its stead, and introduced by his 
positive efficiency, — and the dogma, generated by some 
strange speculations about disinterested benevolence, that a 
willingness to be damned for the glory of God is an essential 
condition of salvation. The new light men and their suc- 
cessors, much as they venerated President Edwards, much 
as they honored Bellamy and some of the others as Edwards's 
favored disciples, did not all become new divinity men. 
Some of them, at least, astounded at the stupendous dogmas 
of Hopkins and West, were willing to acknowledge Dana as 
orthodox in comparison with these -inventors of new divin- 
ity, and to forget the heresy and schism of his youth, for the 
sake of the strength with which he could lead them to war 
against such metaphysical giants as those of Bethlehem, and 
Stockbridge, and Newport. 

Another cause which operated to overcome the public pre- 
judice against him, was his early and decided position in 
favor of our national independence. There was a time, 
while the revolution was approaching, when public senti- 
ment in Connecticut had by no means become unanimous 
as to the expediency of attempting to stand against the Brit- 
ish government, or of taking any measures which might 
sever the tie between the colonies and the parent empire. 
The eastern part of the State was somewhat in advance of 

35 



274 

the western, and, if I mistake not, the " new hghts," as a 
body, were a Uttle before the old hght or conservative party 
as a body. So slow was Governor Fitch in coming up to 
the grand movement of the day, and consenting to the adop- 
tion of strong measures, that during the agitations conse- 
quent upon the stamp act, he lost the confidence of the peo- 
ple and lost his office. It was not far from this time that Dr. 
Dana, then a young man, was invited to preach in Mr. Whit- 
telsey's pulpit on one occasion while the legislature was in 
session in this place. Many, particularly of the eastern mem- 
bers, would have refused to hear so suspected a preacher, if 
they had not understood that he was strongly on their side 
in politics. Their curiosity, and their confidence in his po- 
litical orthodoxy, overcame their dislike of his ecclesiastical 
irregularity. His audience therefore included all the lead- 
ing political men of the colony. Expecting, or at least 
hoping for such an audience, he had prepared himself for 
the occasion. His text was, Heb. xi, 24, 25. " By faith, 
Moses when he was come to years, refused to be called the 
son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction 
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for 
a season." And though to men not in the habit of looking 
for a double sense, the sermon might have seemed far enough 
from having any political bearing, there were few in that 
audience who did not see the meaning. As the preacher 
illustrated and vindicated the conduct of Moses " when he 
had come to years," it became very plain that Connecticut, 
having come to years, was old enough to act for herself, and 
trusting in the God of Israel, to refuse to be any longer de- 
pendent upon Pharaoh. As he held up for imitation the faith 
of the great Hebrew lawgiver, whom all the blandishments 
of royalty could not pervert, whom the wrath of the king 
could not deter, and who renounced the court and identified 
himself with the cause of the wronged and oppressed people, 
there was no hearer who did not see for himself, in the con- 
trast, the picture of those timid politicians of the times, who 
were likely to become the tools of the court. No man was 



ever more tliaii he a master of that sort of eloquence, in 
which "more is meant than meets the ear." The prejudices 
of his auditors were vanquished. From that time forward, 
whenever the General Assembly held its session at New Ha- 
ven, it was expected of course that Mr. Whittelsey would grat- 
ify the members by exchanging once with his brother Dana.* 

At Dr. Dana's installation here, the council consisted of 
twelve ministers and twelve delegates. Among the minis- 
ters, were Dr. Edwards and Mr. Austin, of the two younger 
Churches in this town ; and these, I believe, were the only 
ministers in the council who would be considered decided 
"new divinity" men. The council met at nine o'clock in 
the morning. The preliminary questions having been at- 
tended to, Dr. Dana, instead of being examined as examina- 
tions are usually conducted on such occasions, read to the 
council, a written statement of his religious opinions, con- 
cise, cautious, but clear and comprehensive, with some pun- 
gent allusions to the " new divinity" of the times. After the 
reading of this document. Dr. Edwards, as the champion of 
a newer and more thorough orthodoxy, undertook to exam- 
ine him by asking him questions. The questioning being 
finished on Dr. Edwards's part, Dr. Dana retaliated, by pro- 
posing a series of questions for the examiner to answer. Both 
had prepared themselves beforehand ; and both appear to 
have brought their questions in writing to the place of meet- 
ing. Dr. Dana doubtless anticipating some such collision. 
Dr. Edwards, as appeared afterwards, did not obtain satisfac- 
tion. Whether Dr. Dana was satisfied, we are not informed.f 

For some years before the death of Mr. Whittelsey, there 
had been so much of peace among the Churches in New Ha- 
ven, that the monthly sacramental lectures were united, and 
were preached at the three houses of worship in rotation. 
But immediately after Dr. Dana's installation, the ministers 
of the other two Churches refused to hold so much com- 

* Tliis incident is related on the authority of the late Judge Chauncey, 
one of the hearers of the sermon. 
t Appendix. No. XIII. 



276 

miinion with him, being advised to that course by their 
friends West, Smalley, and others, on Dr. Edwards's repre- 
sentation that Dr. Dana, besides being opposed to the " new 
divinity," was unsound respecting the Trinity, the doctrine 
of election, and the doctrine of future punishment. '' Yet," 
says Dr. Stiles, in recording this fact, " all the rest of the 
council were satisfied that the Dr. was sound as to all these 
points." In relation to the doctrine of the Trinity, his con- 
fession of faith at his installation, though cautious in its state- 
ments, holds forth distinctly the doctrine recognized as ortho- 
dox. Respecting a future state of punishment, his printed 
sermons are explicit in denying the possibility of any salva- 
tion or repentance hereafter to those who die in their sins.* 
I think, however, notwithstanding Dr. Stiles's testimony, that 
his doctrine of election was nothing more than that which is 
commonly known as the Arminian doctrine on that subject. 

The ministry of Dr. Dana in this Church was for the most 
part peaceful and quiet ; but none who remember that the 
great end of the ministry is to " win souls," and by the bless- 
ing of God, to bring men under the full power of the gospel 
of Christ, can call it successful. The average annual addi- 
tion to the number of communicants during his ministry of 
sixteen years and a half, was only between five and six — 
ninety three in all. Two services on the Lord's day, the 
monthly sacramental lecture, the occasional catechising of 
the children, and the annual public fast and thanksgiving, 
were all the religious meetings known in the congregation ; 
and very little more was known, I believe, in any other con- 
gregation here. So far as I can judge by tradition or by 
reading Dr. Dana's sermons, the hearer imder his preaching 
did not often feel that he was hearing that upon the immedi- 
ate acceptance of which his soul's salvation was depending. 
The preacher, though he deemed it a point of orthodoxy to 
believe in the tendency of means to the spiritual renovation 
of men, did not believe in that constitutional ability of men 

* Sas liis sennoji 031 that siihject. in Sermons to Young People, 381. 



277 

to repent upon the hearing of the word, which brings the 
sinner under an immediate responsibihty. The tendency of 
his preaching was not so much to lead men to immediate re- 
pentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, 
as it was to put them upon using the means of grace, in the 
expectation that salvation would somehow be the result. Un- 
der such a ministry, whether it be called " old light," " old 
divinity," or " old school," or by any other name of ortho- 
doxy, vital religion, the turning of men from their sins to 
God, cannot be expected greatly to prosper. 

Yet it deserves to be noticed, that the period of Dr. Dana's 
ministry in this Church, especially the former part of it, was 
the period immediately following the revolutionary war, 
when the disastrous and demoralizing influences of that long 
conflict were felt most powerfully in all the Churches ; and 
when the country in the joy of its new liberty, and in its 
sympathy with the hopes and horrors of the French revolu- 
tion, was continually blazing with intense excitement — the 
period in which the long darkness that ensued upon the ex- 
travagances of 1740, was just the deepest — the period in 
which the ministry of so gifted and evangelical a divine as 
the younger Edwards, came to an end in this very town 
for the want of success* — the period just before the com- 

* The history of Dr. Edwards's ministry cannot be given here. The first 
century in the history of tlie Ciiurch to which he ministered will soon be 
completed; and then I trust his successor will do him ample justice. He 
was dismissed from the charge of the White Haven Church and Society, at 
the request of the Society, and by his own consent, May 19, 1795. The 
grand reason offered for his dismission was, that the Societ}^ — which at his 
ordination, twenty six years before, was far the largest and wealthiest in 
New Haven — had so strangely diminished that there was no alternative but 
that of dismissing the minister or dissolving the Society. All parties, how- 
ever, the Church, the parisii, and the council, united in the most ample tes- 
timonials to his faithfulness and his abilities. Dr. Edwards was afterwards 
pastor of the Church in Colebrook, whence he was called to the presidency 
of Union College. He died at Schenectady, Aug. 1801, aged 56. 

The Rev. Samuel Austin was ordained over the Fair Haven Church Nov. 
1786. He was dismissed Jan. 1790, was afterwards pastor of the First Church 
in Worcester, Mass., and then President of the University of Vermont. He 
retired from tliat station in 1821. and died at Gllastciihury, Dec 1830, aged 70. 



278 

mencement of those great, successive, spreading religions 
awakenings, which characterize the last forty years of our 
ecclesiastical history. The fact, that during such a period, 
the ministry of Dr. Dana was not eminently successful, is not 
at all wonderful. Let us thank God, not that we are better 
than the men of those days, but that we live in better times. 

The year 1795 is marked by the appearance of a new 
light in the ecclesiastical history of New Haven, and not of 
New Haven or Connecticut only, but of America. In that 
year. President Dwight, one of the most eloquent, accom- 
plished and successful of preachers, as well as one of the 
most evangelical of theologians, came to the presidency of 
Yale College. From that time, the Churches here began to 
be conversant with preaching of a higher order, not so much 
in respect to style and manner, as in respect to weight and 
clearness of thought, and cogency of application, than any 
they had for a long time before been accustomed to hear. 
From that time, too, there began to come forth young 
preachers, formed not only by his example as a model, but 
by his moulding power as an instructor, whose labors in 
their various spheres, are his greatest and most enduring me- 
morial. 

Dr. Dana, by his discretion, and his dignified propriety of 
conduct ; by his diligence and courage in visiting the sick, 
especially in times of pestilence, when some other ministers 
retreated from the danger ; by the venerable beauty of all 
his public performances, particularly his prayers ; and by his 
unquestionable reputation for learning and wisdom ; con- 
tinued to hold the afi'ections of the people much longer than 
most men could have done in similar circumstances. Those 
times were, not less than the present, times of change. 
White wigs, and cocked hats, and the staid formal manners 
of the days before the revolution, were fast losing all their 
venerableness. The love of novelty, always strong in human 
nature, was stimulated by the great changes, political, com- 
mercial and moral, consequent upon the revolution which 
had made us an independent nation, and upon the adoption 



279 

of the Federal Constitution, which, by compacting the union 
of the States, had not only secured their growth and pros- 
perity, but had subjected them to the most powerful mutual 
influences. In this town, there were some peculiar local 
causes which operated to awaken the desire of change. The 
two societies of White Haven and Fair Haven, having dis- 
missed their pastors through acknowledged inability to sus- 
tain them, had reunited in one Society, (Nov. 27, 1796,) the 
largest and strongest in the town, and in these respects the 
most likely to attract new comers. This United Society had 
settled as its pastor, the Rev. John Gemmil, from Pennsylva- 
nia, whose full-orbed popularity at his first coming here soon 
began to wane, and who, after a ministry of four years, was 
dismissed, Nov. 22, 1802, leaving not many friends behind 
him. Amid all these disturbing influences, and notwith- 
standing the growing infirmities of age. Dr. Dana appears to 
have lost nothing of the respect of his own people or of the 
community. 

But in the winter of 1804-5, he was confined for some 
time by illness ; and the pulpit was supplied by Mr. Moses 
Stuart, then recently licensed as a candidate for the ministry. 
Hardly any two things, both worthy to be called preach- 
ing, could be more unlike than the preaching of the old pas- 
tor, and that of the young candidate. Dr. Dana, partly from 
the circumstances in which he was placed at his first settle- 
ment in Wallingford, when all ears were open to catch any 
inadvertent expression which might be construed into hetero- 
doxy, and partly from the natural cautiousness of his temper, 
had acquired the habit of preaching on many of the most im- 
portant and stirring topics of Christian doctrine, with some- 
thing of that diplomatic vagueness, if I may so call it, which 
leaves little impression upon the feelings, and less upon the 
memory. The consequence was, especially as he grew old, 
that to the majority of hearers, and particularly to the young, 
his sermons were wanting in impressiveness, containing no 
strong points strongly urged home upon the moral sensibili- 
ties, or strongly debated with the intellectual faculties. Ac- 



280 

cordingly, when the old man was once silent for a season, 
and a young man of strong impetuous eloquence occupied 
his pulpit, the people, and especially the younger part of them, 
found out all at once that their pastor, then three score and 
ten years old, was indeed an old man. Arrangements were 
immediately commenced to obtain the services of Mr. Stuart 
as colleague with Dr. Dana. This effort failed, because of the 
reluctance of the candidate, to be connected with a colleague 
who, it might be presumed, did not regard the movement 
with cordial approbation. On the 30th of July, 1805, the 
Society by vote signified their will " that Dr. Dana retire from 
his pastoral labors." This vote was in effect the dismission 
of the aged pastor, the Society having reserved to itself, at 
the time of his settlement, the power of dispensing with his 
pastoral services whenever it should seem proper to do so. 
The relation of Dr. Dana to the Church and Society was 
formally dissolved by an ecclesiastical council, in December, 
1805 ; and then the way being clear, the Society immedi- 
ately elected Mr. Stuart to be their pastor. On the 20th of 
January, 1806, the Church concurred with the Society in 
the call. The ordination of Mr. Stuart took place on the 
5th of March. What has taken place since that date may 
be considered as belonging to the history of om* times, and 
will therefore be passed over with only a few general notices. 
The ministry of Mr. Stuart, though short, was signalized 
by a memorable revival of religion, which marked the begin- 
ning of a new order of things in the history not only of this 
Church, but also of that in the United Society. The ordina- 
tion of the Rev. Samuel Merwin, in the other Church, took 
place about a year before the ordination of Mr. Stuart in 
this. From the date of Mr. Stuart's settlement, all ancient 
differences between these Churches were buried in obliv- 
ion. At sacramental lectures, and on many other occasions, 
the two Churches were united as one. Frequent exchanges 
of pulpits on the part of the two pastors, tended to increase 
the mutual affection between the Churches, and the sense of 
a common interest. Thus the seriousness, and the awakened 



281 

attention to the things of rcHgion, which pervaded one 
congregation, was felt eqnally in tlie other ; and better days 
were enjoyed in New Haven than had ever been known 
here before. 

On the ninth of January, 1810, Mr. Stuart, after having 
served the Church as pastor a httle less than four years, was 
dismissed at his own request, the Church and Society reluc- 
tantly consenting. Having been invited to the professorship 
of Sacred Literature in the Theological Seminary at Ando- 
ver, he considered himself called in the providence of God. 
to relinquish the pastoral office, and to be employed in form- 
ing the minds and hearts of others, for the service of the spi- 
ritual temple. 

For two years after the removal of Professor Stuart, the 
Church was without a pastor. On the 8th of April, 1812, 
the vacancy was filled by the ordination of the Rev. Na- 
thaniel W. Taylor. In this ordination, Dr. Dana officiated 
as moderator of the ordaining council, joined in the laying 
on of the hands of the presbytery, and in the name of the 
council gave the charge to the candidate. During the min- 
istry of his immediate successor, his stern and wounded feel- 
ings had forbidden him to unite with this Church in public 
worship. Still more had he felt himself forbidden to sit un- 
der the preaching of the man, for whom the Society had 
treated him, in his old age, with what he esteemed great 
disrespect. He had therefore withdrawn, and at the College 
chapel had attended on the ministry of President Dwight. 
The effect of this had been in one important respect happy. 
Formerly he had entertained strong prejudices against the 
President, looking upon him as tinctured with the "new di- 
vinity" not only of his grandfather, the first Edwards, but 
also of his uncle and theological teacher, the second. But 
his six years' attendance on the preaching of the President, 
and especially his hearing that four years' course of sermons 
on the doctrines and duties of religion, which, since it was 
given to the public, has been read by so many thousands of 
intelligent men in all evangelical denominations with equal 

36 



282 

admiration and profit, — went far to annihilate his prejudices. 
He is said to have acknowledged, not only that he thought 
much better of Dr. Dwight than formerly, but also that the 
preaching of Dr. Dwight had led him to new views of some 
important subjects. Accordingly he saw with gratification 
the progress of measures for the settlement of one of Dr. 
Dwight's favorite pupils over what had once been his own 
beloved flock. Occasionally he came to the old meeting 
house, to join in the worship which he had formerly been 
accustomed to lead. The sight of his venerable form in the 
old place awakened old affections. The Society expressed 
by vote their pleasure at seeing him, and their desire that he 
would attend there in future. The gentleman who was- ap- 
pointed to communicate to him this vote, lately gave me 
some account of the interview. " Dr. Dana," said he, pre- 
senting a copy of the vote, " I have a communication for you 
from the Society." "Please to read it. Sir," said the old 
man in reply, putting the paper back into the hands of the 
other, and straightening himself up to a little more than his 
usual dignity. The vote was read distinctly, and with due 
emphasis. " Please to read it again. Sir," said the doctor, 
still sitting in stiff and antique dignity, with his thin ghastly 
countenance unmoved, as if he were something between a 
ghost and a monument. Again the communication was 
read, with earnest desires that it might make a favorable im- 
pression. " It is well," said the old man, and his voice quiv- 
ered and broke as he uttered his reply, " I know not but that I 
may say. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." 
On the first Sabbath after Mr. Taylor's ordination, Dr. Dana, 
at the invitation of the young pastor, took his seat in the 
pulpit; and there he was seen thenceforward every Sab- 
bath till his last sickness. He died in August of that year, 
(1812,) at the age of 77.* The sermon at his funeral was 

* Dr. Dana was one of the Fellows of Yale College from 1799 till his death. 
The following is believed to be nearly a correct catalogue of his published 
works. 

Sermon on the death of John Hall, Esq. 1763. 



283 

preached by Dr. Dwight. His remains rest in the new bnry- 
ing ground. 

During the ministry of Mr. Taylor, which continued 
eleven years and a half, the years 1815 and 1816, and the 
years 1820 and 1821, were signalized by large accessions to 
the communion of the Church. 

Mr. Taylor was dismissed in December, 1822, according to 
the advice of a council, called for the purpose of giving light 
to the Church on the questiou, whether he ought to accept 
the professorship of Didactic Theology, then recently estab- 
lished in Yale College. However the congregation may 
have been a loser by that decision which removed him from 
the immediate oversight of their spiritual interests ; and how- 
ever he in that more conspicuous station has been exposed to 
buffetings which in the pastoral office he might have avoided, 
the great and common cause, the cause of Christian truth and 
of the world's salvation, has been, Ave trust, the gainer. 

The present pastor first stood in this pulpit on the first 
Sabbath in October, 1824, having been ordained the week 
before to the work of an evangelist. He was installed on 
the 9th of March, 1825, and is now in the fourteenth year of 

Two Sermons on faith and inscrutable Providence, preached at Cam- 
bridge. 1767. 

A Century Discourse in Wallingford. 1770. 

Examination of Edwards on the Will. 1770. Published anonymously. 

Examination, &c., continued. 1773. Published with his name. 

Sermon on prayer. 1774. 

Christmas sermon in the Episcopal Church, Wallingford, 

Discourse on capital punishments. 1790. 

Sermon on the African slave trade. 1791. 

Sermon at the installation of Rev. Abiel Holmes at Cambridge. 1792. 

Sermon on practical Atheism. 1794. 

Sermon at the ordination of Rev. E. Waterman at Windham. 1794. 

Sermon preached at the funeral of President Stiles. 1795. 

Two Discourses, I. On the new year : II. On the completion of the 18th 
century. 1801. 

Sermon on the death of Ebenczer Grant Marsh. 1803. 

Sermon on the character of scoffers, preached in Hartford. 1805. 

Sermons to young people. 1806. 

Three sermons in the American Preacher. 



284 

his official relation to this Church. The years 1828 and 
1831, were years in which God was pleased to crown a most 
imperfect ministry with blessed success. The years 1832, 
1835, and 1837, though less distinguished than the two first 
mentioned, are also to be remembered with gratitude. 

Having made this acknowledgment of the goodness of 
God, I will not attempt at this time to review my own min- 
istry any farther thaii to say, that in the constant kindness of 
a most aifectionate people, in the wisdom and frankness with 
which those gifted with wisdom have ever been ready to 
counsel me, in the forbearance with which my imperfections 
and errors have been treated, and in the stimulus which the 
presence of an intelligent community, accustomed to judge 
by the highest standards, has afibrded, I have had great oc- 
casion for gratitude to the Providence that has cast my lot 
here, and for humiliation, that amid such advantages my cor- 
respondent profiting has not been more manifest to all men. 

In this review of the history of two centuries, I have con- 
tinually seen the illustration of one lesson which I desire 
never to forget, and which I hope you will remember. While 
I have felt the impulses of that natural enthusiasm which 
admires whatever is venerable with antiquity, the studies 
which have made me far more familiar than I was before, 
with the men, the opinions, and the conflicts of former 
times, have been quickening in me the conviction, that 

THE GOLDEN AGE IS NOT IN THE PAST BUT IN THE FUTURE. 

The golden age of heathenism was in the remotest past. 
It was followed, as the fabling poets taught, by the age of 
silver, that by the brazen age, and that by this last age of 
iron. According to this view the world is, and ever has been, 
progressively degenerating. How gloomy such a faith, how 
dispiriting to noble enterprise, how powerful in its tendency 
to selfishness ! The golden age of Christianity on the con- 
trary is in the future, when " the mountain of the Lord's 
house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and 
exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow towards it 
and be saved," when " tlic nations shall learn war no more," 



285 

when " the wolf shall lie down with the lamb, and the leop- 
ard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the yonng 
lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead 
them." Toward that consummation, that complete and uni- 
versal triumph of the kingdom which is righteousness, and 
peace, and joy, — all things under the imiversal providence of 
God are tending. To those cheering pictures of a renovated 
earth filled with knowledge, peace and love, the eye of faith 
and of active or suffering virtue is ever looking. And every 
act of virtue, from the most conspicuous to the humblest, — 
every aspiration of true prayer, adds its little contribution to 
bring on the golden age to come, those " last days," when 
"the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and 
the light of the sun shall be seven fold, as the light of seven 
days." 

Some view allied to the heathenish doctrine of a golden 
age, is always natural. And if at any time our confidence 
in the immortal energy of truth, in the veracity of God's 
predictions, or in the all-controlling providence of God, grows 
weak, it is easy for us to become alarmed at the progress of 
change, and easy to pass from alarm to despondency. This 
is peculiarly easy with minds of a melancholic temperament ; 
and such minds, in this world of change, need to be armed 
with a double measure of faith in him who permits and 
bounds all changes according to infinite wisdom and love. 

The world is always full of a certain sort of " conserva- 
tivism" which places the golden age not indeed so far back 
as the heathen poets placed it, but just far enough back to 
make it a constant motive to despondency. You can always 
find men who seem to think that the golden age was some- 
where from fifty to two hundred years ago, and that ever since 
that indefinite point in the past, the world, and the Church 
too, has been degenerating. They are not ordinarily very 
well read in history, but they have a strong impression, that 
in those good old times every thing was very nearly as it 
should be. That was the age of orthodox theology ; that 
was the age of revivals without new measures ; that ^vas the 



286 

age of tranquility in the Churches ; that was the age of sound 
principles in politics ; that was the age of good morals. But 
alas for us ! we are fallen upon the most " evil days and evil 
times" that ever mortals lived in. This class of " conserva- 
tives" has been in the world ever since the deluge ; and al- 
ways they have held the same language, like the hypochon- 
driac who on every day in the year was '' better than he was 
yesterday but worse than he was the day before." Against 
such feelings, so discouraging to faith and to benevolence — 
so dishonorable to the gospel and to its author, the careful 
and minute survey of past ages is well fitted to guard us. 

The truth is, that of all the ages since New England was 
planted, we live in the best age, the age in which it is the 
greatest privilege to live. The self-styled conservatives of 
this age are scared at "new divinity." So was Dr. Dana in 
his day scared at the " new divinity" of Bellamy and Hop- 
kins. They are scared and scandalized at " new measures." 
So was Mr. Noyes, in his day, scared at the " new measures" 
of Davenport and Tennent. They are scared at women's 
preaching, taking it for an omen that the world is getting old 
and crazy, as if there had been in other ages no Mrs. Hutch- 
inson, no Deborah Wilson, no Mary Fisher. They are scared 
at itinerant agitators who broach strange and disorganizing 
doctrmes respecting Churches and ministers, laws and magis- 
trates ; as if some doctrine had been invented more radically 
destructive than were the doctrines, or had been published 
in terms more abusive than were the manners, of George 
Fox and his emissaries. Undoubtedly this age has its evils, 
its perils, its downward tendencies. It is eminently an age 
of progress, and therefore of excitement and change. It is 
an age in which the great art of printing is beginning to 
manifest its energy in the diifusion of knowledge and the 
excitement of bold inquiry : and therefore it is an age when 
all opinions walk abroad in quest of proselytes. It is an age 
of liberty, and therefore of the perils incidental to liberty. 
It is an age of peace and enterprise, and therefore of pros- 
perity, and of all the perils incidental to prosperity. It is an 



287 

age of great plans and high endeavors for the promotion of 
human happiness ; and therefore it is an age in which daring 
but ill balanced minds are moved to attempt impracticable 
things, or to aim at practicable ends by impracticable meas- 
ures. If we could exorcise the spirit that moves men to do 
good by associated effort on the grandest scale, perhaps we 
might be rid of some few ill concerted enterprises that im- 
portune us for cooperation. If we had war instead of peace, 
and robbery instead of commerce, we should soon be rid of 
the evils attendant on national prosperity and this vast accu- 
mulation of the outward means of human happiness. If our 
liberty were abolished, our free schools, our equal rights, 
our elective government, we should be rid of the perils of 
this constant political agitation. If the universal circulation 
of books and newspapers were taken away, and the waking 
up of mind in all directions were quieted, if all religious wor- 
ship and instruction were regulated by the sovereign and 
made to conform to one standard, if intellectual culture and 
general knowledge could be confined to the '' better classes," 
and they would be content to take every thing by tradition ; 
we might have a very tranquil state of things, — all calm as 
the sea of Sodom, But so long as we have liberty, civil, 
intellectual, and religious ; so long as we have enterprise and 
prosperity ; so long as the public heart is warm with solici- 
tude for human happiness ; so long we must make up our 
minds to encounter something of error and extravagance ; 
and our duty is not to complain or despair, but to be thank- 
ful that we live in times so auspicious, and to do what we 
can in patience and love, to guide the erring and check the 
extravagant. 

When the car rushes with swift motion, he who looks only 
downward upon the track, to catch if he can some glimpses 
of the glowing wheel, or to watch the rocks by the wayside, 
that seem whirling from their places, soon grows sick and 
faint. Look up, man ! Look abroad ! The earth is not dis- 
solved, not yet dissolving. Look on the tranquil heavens, 
and the blue mountains. Look on all that fills the range of 



288 

vision, — tlic bright, glad river, the smooth meadow, the vil- 
lage spire with the clustering homes around it, and yonder 
lonely, quiet farmhouse, far up among the hills. You are 
safe ; all is safe ; and the power that carries you is neither 
earthquake nor tempest, but a power than which the gen- 
tlest palfrey that ever bore a timid maiden, is not more obe- 
dient to the will that guides it. 

What age since the country was planted, has been more 
favorable to happiness or to virtue than the present ? Would 
you rather have lived in the age of the revolution ? If in tliis 
age you are frightened, in that age you would have died with 
terror. Would you rather have lived in the age of the old 
French wars, when religious enthusiasm and religious con- 
tention ran so high, that ruin seemed impending? How 
would your sensibilities have been tortured in such an age ! 
Would you rather have lived in those earlier times, when the 
savage still built his wigwam in the woody valleys, and the 
wolf prowled on our hills ? Those days, so Arcadian to your 
fancy, were days of darkness and tribulation. The " temp- 
tations in the wilderness" were as real and as terrible as any 
which your virtue is called to encounter. 

The scheme of Divine Providence is one, from the begin- 
ning to the end, and is ever in progressive development. 
Every succeeding age helps to unfold the mighty plan. 
There are indeed times of darkness ; but even then it is light 
to faith, and lighter to the eye of God ; and even then there 
is progress, though to sense and fear all motion seems retro- 
grade. To despond now, is not cowardice merely, but 
atheism ; for now, as the world in its swift progress brings 
us nearer and nearer to the latter day, faith, instructed by 
the signs of the times, and looking up in devotion, sees on 
the blushing sky the promise of the morning. 



APPENDIX 



No. I. 
Davenport's discourse about civil government. 

" A Discourse about civil government in a new plantation whose 
design is religion. Written many years since by that Reverend and 
worthy minister of the gospel, John Cotton, B. D. And now pub- 
lished by some undertakers of a new plantation, for general direc- 
tion and information. Cambridge, printed by Samuel Green and 
Marmaduke Johnson. 1673." 

This is the title of a tract of twenty four pages, small quarto, in 
the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Cotton Mather 
in his Life of Davenport, (Magn. Ill, 5G,) says that in this title page, 
" the name of Mr. Cotton is by a mistake put for that of Mr. Dav- 
enport." The testimony of Mather is perhaps sufficient in itself to 
decide the authorship, inasmuch as his father, who was the son-in- 
law of Cotton, and particularly acquainted with Davenport, may be 
presumed to have authorized the statement. The internal evidence 
however seems to me to demonstrate not only the author of the 
" Discourse," but the occasion on which it was written. 

1. The tract was written in Ncia England. " We in this new 
plantation." p. 10. " These very Indians that worship the Devil, 
will not be under the government of any Sagamores but such as join 
with them in observance of their pawcaces and idolatries." p. 24. 

2. It was written probably by a man who had been in Holland, — 
certainly by one familiarly acquainted with that country. " In Hol- 
land, when the Arminian party had many Burgomasters on their 
side. Grave Maurice came into divers of their cities with troops of 
soldiers, by order from the States General, and put those Arminian 
magistrates out of office, and caused them to choose only such as 
were of the Dutch Churches. And in Rotterdam (and I think it is 
so in other towns) the Vrentscap, (who are all of them of the Dutch 
Church and free burgers,) do out of their own company choose the 
Burgomaster and other magistrates and officers." pp. 23, 24. Cot- 
ton never was in Holland. Davenport resided in that country about 

37 



290 

three years, and his " Apologetical Reply" was published at Rot- 
terdam. 

3. It was written before the reign of the long parliament. " In 
our native country, none are entrusted with the management of pub- 
lic affairs but members of the Church of England, as they call them." 
p. 23. There is a peculiar tone in this language which no New Eng- 
land Puritan would have used while the parliament was reforming 
the Church of England. It could not have been written after the 
restoration, for in 1673, it was " written many years since." 

4. It was written not for publication, but in the way of private 
and amicable discussion with a friend, — a " Reverend" friend, — 
with whom the writer had opportunities of personal conference. It 
is in the form of an epistle, commencing thus : — " Reverend Sir, 
The Sparrow being now gone, and one day's respite from public la- 
bors on the Lord's day falling to me in course, I have sought out 
your writing, and have reviewed it, and find (as I formerly expressed 
to yourself) that the question is mis-stated by you." p. 3. So at the 
conclusion, — " If you remain unsatisfied, I shall desire that you will 
plainly, and lovingly, and impartially weigh the ground of my judg- 
ment, and communicate yours, if any remain against it, in writing. 
For though much writing be wearisome unto me, yet I find it the 
safer way for me." p. 24. 

5. It does not appear to have been written with any purpose of 
vindicating a constitution already established, but rather with refer- 
ence to a question of practical moment not then decided. The 
manifest design of the whole composition is inquiry and discussion, 
rather than the vindication of something already determined. " The 
true state of the question" is declared thus : — " Whether a new plan- 
tation, where all, or the most considerable part of the free planters 
profess their purpose and desire of securing to themselves and to 
their posterity the pure and peaceable enjoyment of Christ's ordi- 
nances, — whether, I say, such planters are bound, in laying the 
foundations of Church and civil State, to take order that all the free 
burgesses be such as are in fellowship of the Church or Churches 
which are or may be gathered according to Christ ; and that those 
free burgesses have the only power of choosing from among them- 
selves civil magistrates, and men to be entrusted with transacting all 
public affairs of importance according to the rules and directions of 
Scripture ?" The writer proceeds, " I hold the affirmative part of 
this question, upon this ground, that this course will most conduce 



291 

to the good of both states ; and by consequence to the common wel- 
fare of all, whereunto all men are bound principally to attend in lay- 
ing the foundations of a commonwealth, lest posterity rue the first 
miscarriages when it will be too late to redress them," &:-c. " The 
Lord awaken us to look to it in time, and send us his light and truth 
to lead us into the safest way in these beginnings.'^ p. 14. So in 
another place, " We plead for this order to he set in civil affairs, that 
such a course may he taken as may best secure to ourselves and our 
posterities the faithful managing of civil government for the common 
welfare of all." p. 12. Now the principle for which this discourse 
contends, was settled in Massachusetts before Mr. Cotton came to 
New England, and I believe was never afterwards, in his life-time, 
made the subject of such questionings as would lead to the writing 
of such an epistle. 

From these various indications it seems altogether probable, not 
only that this tract was written, as Mather affirms, by Davenport ; 
but also that it was written at Cluinnipiack sometime between April 
loth, 1638, and June 4th, 1639, while the constitution of New Ha- 
ven was not yet formed. It seems probable also, that the letter was 
addressed to Samuel Eaton, who during that period was Davenport's 
assistant in the work of the ministry, and who, as Mather says, dis- 
sented from his colleague " about the narrow terms and forms of 
civil government" adopted in this colony. Nor will it be thought 
fanciful to suppose that this letter was one of "the former passages 
between them two," of which Mr. Davenport gave " a short relation" 
at the meeting in Mr. Newman's barn " on the fourth day of the 
fourth month, called June, 1639," when one man whose name is not 
recorded, objected to the principle, that " free burgesses should be 
chosen out of the church members." 

Another inquiry suggests itself The tract was written when the 
departure of " the Sparrow" concurring with one Sabbath's respite 
from preaching, gave the author time for such a study. Are there 
any traces elsewhere of " the Sparrow ?" In 1622, a ship of that 
name appears in the history of Plymouth. She was sent over by Mr. 
Thomas Weston of London, and having been employed on a fishing 
voyage at the east, was retained at Weston's ill-starred plantation 
of Wessagussett. (Davis's Morton, 78. Baylies' Memoir of Plym- 
outh, 92, 95.) That the same Sparrow was afloat, and on the New 
England coast as late as 1638, let others affirm or deny. But what 
had the author of this tract to do with the Sparrow? If it be sup- 



292 

posed that in tlie spring or summer of 1G38, the Sparrow came to 
Q-uinnipiack, bringing Mr. Davenport's books and household goods, 
and laden with similar freight for the planters, it may easily be con- 
ceived, how the time of her remaining in the harbor might be a time 
when the friendly debate between Mr. Davenport and Mr. Samuel 
Eaton, must needs stand still. This is a trifling conjecture ; but 
inest sua gratia parvis. 

This pamphlet is the most formal exhibition that I have ever seen, 
of the reasons by which our ancestors themselves vindicated that 
principle in their polity, which has been so much condemned and 
ridiculed. It has therefore an importance as a historical document, 
which might v.'in for it a place in the collections of the Historical 
Society. 

The last of the six arguments by which the author maintains the 
affirmative of his question, is " taken from the danger of devolving 
this power upon those who are not in Church order." " The dan- 
gers to the Church are (1) the disturbance of the Church's peace, 
and ('2) the danger of corrupting Church order, either by compelling 
them to receive into fellowship unsuitable ones, or by imposing on 
them ordinances of men and worldly rudiments, or by establishing 
idolatrous worship." " The dangers to the civil State are (1) the 
danger of factions, — there will naturally be a party opposed to the 
Churches, and (2) the danger of a perversion of justice by magis- 
trates of worldly spirit." With men who had had a taste of the Star 
Chamber, and who had come so far to " enjoy Christ's ordinances in 
purity and peace," every word in this enumeration of dangers had 
great significancy. 



293 
No. II. 

THE PRIMITIVE ORDINATIONS IN NEW ENGLAND, 

The statement on page 41, that the act of ordination at the or- 
ganization of a Church was performed by two or more brethren in 
the name of the Church, is made with some hesitation, but with very 
little doubt: — with some hesitation, because it asserts as generally 
true, what is commonly considered as an exception ; yet with very 
little doubt, because the statement corresponds with all the evidence 
which I have been able to discover. Johnson (Wonder Working 
Prov., tl, Mass. Hist. Coll. vii, 40,) undertakes to declare how " all 
the Churches of Christ planted in N. England" " proceeded in reli- 
gious matters," yet he describes the ordination of a pastor as per- 
formed by " two persons in the name of the Church," after which, 
prayer is offered by "one of the elders present." Lechford's testi- 
mony is to the same effect, (p. 3.) I remember no instance in Win- 
throp, of an ordination performed by an elder called in from a neigh- 
boring Church. The Cambridge Platform (C. ix,) says, " In such 
Churches where there are no elders, imposition of hands may be per- 
formed by some of the brethren orderly chosen by the Church there- 
unto." The language evidently implies that such was the ordinary 
and regular course in the case described. The authors, instead of 
intimating that this ordination by a committee is doubtful or inexpe- 
dient, only add, that " where there are no elders and the Church so 
desire, we see not why imposition of hands may not be performed by 
the elders of other Churches."* If a synod should now say, " We 
see not why imposition of hands may not be performed by brethren 



* The notions of Cambridge Platform respecting ordination were not at 
the time so entirely novel as some imagine. Archbishop Cranmer was very 
much of the same way of thinking. " In the admission of many of these 
officers [he is speaking of all officers, ecclesiastical and civil] there be divers 
comely ceremonies and solemnities used, which be not of necessity but only 
for a goodly order and seemly fashion. For if such offices and ministrations 
vvere committed without such solemnity, they were nevertheless trnl}' com- 
mitted." Stillingfleet's Works, Irenicum, 401. So again, " In the New Tes- 
tament, he that is appointed to be a bishop or a priest, noednth no consecra- 
tion by the Scripture, for election or appointing thereto is sufficient." 402. 



294 

in the name of tlie Church," would the language imply that imposi- 
tion of hands by a committee is the ordinary course of proceeding ? 
It is matter of record that in the ordination of Mr. Prudden over the 
Milford Church, (1640,) the imposition of hands was by brethren, 
though it was done at New Haven, and therefore, doubtless, in the 
presence of Mr. Davenport. So again in the ordination of Mr. New- 
ton over the same Church, (1660,) the ruling elder was assisted by 
one of the deacons and one of the brethren. So again in the ordi- 
nation of John Higginson at Salem, in the same year, (Hutchinson, 
I, 425.) Can any authentic instance be found, of a primitive 
New England ordination performed by the officers of neighboring 
Churches ? 

Contrary to all the primitive testimony, we have the declaration of 
Cotton Mather (Mag. V, 42,) " that setting aside a few plebeian ordi- 
nations in the beginning of the world here among us, there have 
been rarely any ordinations managed in our Churches but by the 
hands of presbyters." This shows plainly enough that the custom in 
his day was the same as in ours, and the context shows that Mather 
was anxious to obliterate as far as possible the memory of a con- 
trary custom. It may be added, that the only time when such ordi- 
nations were expected to take place, was at what Mather calls " the 
beginning of the world here." A church once organized was ex- 
pected to have, and for the first half century did ordinarily have a 
presbytery within itself, by whose hands subsequent ordinations 
were performed. Nor should it be forgotten, that the ministers thus 
ordained by committees were men previously ordained by bishops in 
England, and that their re-ordination here was similar to what we 
now call installation; so that those who, like Pres. Stiles, are fond 
of tracing their sacerdotal pedigree to the English bishops, and 
through them to the apostles, may easily make out an " uninterrupted 
succession," notwithstanding these " plebeian ordinations." See 
Stiles's Election Sermon, 59—64. 

It may seem audacious to attempt to correct the editor of Win- 
throp ; but I may be allowed to inquire whether, in his note on ordi- 
nation by bishops, he has not mistaken the meaning of his author. 
(Savage's Winthrop, I, 217.) At a council in Concord, April, 1637, 
" it was resolved by the ministers then present, that such as had 
been ministers in England were lawful ministers by the call of the 
-people there, noticithstanding their acceptance of the call of the bish- 
ops, (for which they humbled themselves, acknowledging it their 



295 

sin, &.C.,) but being come hither, tlicy accountod tlicin^^elves no min- 
isters, until they were called to another Church." Upon this the 
editor remarks, "Ordination by a bishop in England must have been 
thought valid, for by that rite it was that all the other ministers as- 
serted their claims to office, as we may see at the election in August, 
1630, of Wilson to the first Church of Boston." " But how it should 
be a sin, yet a valid entrance or admission to the Christian min- 
istry, can be explained only by such timid casuists as humbled them- 
selves for their act in submitting to it." 

With all deference to this most learned and honored antiquarian, 
I remark, 

1. That in Gov. Winthrop's account of the ordination of Wilson, 
not a word is said about his having derived any claims from ordina- 
tion by a bishop in England. " We used imposition of hands, but 
with this protestation by all that it was only as a sign of election and 
confirmation, not of any intent that Mr. Wilson should renounce his 
ministry he received in England." Winthrop, I, 33. 

2. That the lawfulness of the ministry of such as had been minis- 
ters in England depended on the implied call of the people there, and 
was therefore lawful, "notwithstanding" the acceptance of prelatical 
ordination. 

3. That the sin which they so humbly acknowledged, was not that 
ministry received and e.^ercised in England, which Mr. Wilson did 
not renounce, but their submitting to the supposed ordaining power 
of the bishops, which was an invasion of the divine right of every 
Church to ordain its own ministers. 



296 



No. III. 

SPECIMENS OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 

The early records of the New Haven Church exhibit the course 
of proceedings in only one instance of trial and censure, and in one 
instance of absolution or the restoration of an ofiending member to 
regular standing. The proceedings in these instances seem to have 
been put on record, as specimens of church discipline ; that posterity 
might know both the principles and the forms by which such pro- 
ceedings were then conducted. That there were other instances of 
excommunication is manifest from other sources, and particularly 
from the records of the town ; but either by the loss of the records, 
or the negligence of the proper officer, or — what is more probable — 
because no record of such transactions was considered necessary, 
the Church book, as we have it, is silent respecting them. 

For the sake of the authentic and lively pictures of that age, which 
the two records above referred to exhibit, I transcribe the most ma- 
terial parts of the former, and the whole of the latter. 



"A brief story of Church proceedings with Mrs. Eaton the Gover- 
nor's tvife* for divers scandalous ojfenses which she gave to sundry 
out of the Church. 

" Matters being prepared, they were propounded to the Church 
by the ruling elder, in the public assembly, the fourteenth day of the 
sixth month, 1644, after the contribution on the Lord's day, as fol- 
loweth : 

" The elders have understood by divers of the brethren that they 
do wait for, and expect to hear, what issue the business that con- 
cerns Mrs. Eaton is brought to. The elders have not neglected the 
looking after it, but have now prepared matters for the hearing of 
the Church. If the brethren be willing that she shall be now called 



* He who reads Matlier's Life of Eaton carefully, cannot but observe the 
emphasis with which the biographer speaks of the happiness of Eaton with 
hh first wife. Mather doubtless knew tliat the second Mrs. Eaton, thougli 
a bishop's daughter, was not a comfortable mate. 



297 

forth, tliey have tlie particulars to read unto you. And if they said 
nothing against it, they should take their silence for their consent. 

" And after a little pause, the brethren being silent, the ruling elder 
called Mrs. Eaton forth. Then our pastor, Mr. Davenport, stood up 
and spoke as followeth : 

" Brethren you do, I suppose, expect some account from the elders, 
of the issue of all the pains and patience which hath been exercised 
by the Church towards our sister, Mrs. Eaton. I am sorry that we 
cannot give in such a return as might answer all our desires. The 
public offense which she knows is grievous to us, she still continueth 
in, departing from the assembly whensoever baptism is administered, 
or else absenting herself from the sermon and from all public worship 
in the congregation, though she knowcth that it is an offense to the 
whole Church. How she fell into this error, you partly know. Her 
will was gained to it before her judgment, and therefore she sought 
some arguments or other against the baptizing of infants, and to 
that end spake with the Lady Moodey,* and importuned her to lend 
her a book made by A. R. ; which having gotten into her hands she 
read secretly, and as secretly engaged her spirit in that way. For 
she neither asked her husband at home, according to the rule 1 Cor. 
xiv, 35, (whose faithfulness and sufficiency to have held forth light 
to her according to God, we all know,) nor did she seek for any 
light or help from her pastor according to the rule Mala, ii, 7, though 
in other cases she hath come freely to him, and departed from him 
not without fruit; nor did she seek help from the body whereof she 
is a member, nor from any members of this body, save that she 
showed her book with the charge of secrecy to one or two whom she 
hoped to gain to her party, and so to have made way for a further 
spread of her infection in the body. The first discovery of her per- 
emptory engagement was by her departing from the assembly after 
the morning sermon when the Lord's supper was administered, and 
the same afternoon, after sermon, when baptism was administered, 
judging herself not capable of the former, because she conceited her- 
self to be not baptized, nor durst she be present at the latter, ima- 
gining that pfcdobaptism is unlawful. In a meeting of the Church 
among themselves on the third day following, some of the brethren 

* For some account of this lady, who was excommunicated from the Church 
in Salem, 1643, and "to avoid further trouble" in Massachusetts " removed 
to tiie Dutch" and settled at Gravesend on Long Island; and who probably 
stopped here in her migration, see Savage's Wiiithrop, II, 123, Vdij. 



298 

desired that Mrs. Eaton would declare her reasons whereupon slie 
thus did and held. She professed her inability to speak, but told us 
of a book she had, which had taken her off from the grounds of her 
former practice ; for she formerly thought that baptism had come in 
the room of circumcision and therefore might lawfully be adminis- 
tered unto infants as that was. Hereupon I asked her whether if 
that point were cleared she should be satisfied? She seemed to as- 
sent. Then I undertook (with the help of Christ) to examine her 
whole book, and the next third day to begin to speak to the first part 
of it in the meeting of the Church among themselves, and the next 
Lord's day to begin to preach out of Col. ii, 11, 12, thence to prove 
that baptism is come in the place of circumcision and is to be admin- 
istered unto infants, and so to answer the second part of the book ; 
which as you know hath been done, with a blessing from God for 
the recovery of some from this error, and for the establishment of 
others in truth. Only Mrs. Eaton [received] no benefit by all, but 
continued as before. Which when T perceived, thinking that there 
might be some defect in her understanding what was spoken, or in 
her memory, I put myself voluntarily to a further task for her good; 
and wrote out what I spoke in the Church alone in answer to the 
former part of the book, and what I preached in public to the next 
assembly on the Lord's day, and got them to be wrote out in a fair 
hand, and sent them to her husband for her use, with this request, 
that it would please him to join with himself Mr. Gregson and Mr. 
Hooke, to whom probably she would give ear sooner than to others, 
and let one read A. R. and the other read my answer, by several 
portions, that she might understand what was read and have liberty 
to object for her satisfaction while things were in her mind. This 
they did, though she showed much backwardness and unwillingness 
thereunto ; and when they had read to a period and prajed her to 
speak if she had any thing to say, she neither would object nor yield 
to the truth, but behaved herself with such contemptuous carriages 
that they were discouraged in the beginning. But at my desire they 
returned to it again, and continued thus reading till they had gone 
through the book, and then left with her both A. R. and the Answer. 
After this I waited to see if her own private reading would have any 
better success. When I saw that she continued still as she was, nor 
did propound any question, I marvelled at the hand of God herein, 
which to me seemed dreadful, fearing that, as before she would not 
seek liglit, so now God would not give her an heart to receive light. 



299 

Whilst T was tlms sadly exercised, divers rumors were spread up and 
down the town of her scandalous walking in her family, which were 
in the mouths of many before they came to my knowledge, being al- 
most continually in my study and family except some public work or 
private duty call me forth. At last I with two or three of the breth- 
ren who had also heard of this common fame, considered what we 
were called to do, and concluded that it being a thing commonly and 
scandalously reported, the rule requireth that we should inquire, 
make search, and ask diligently whether it were true, — Deut. xvii, 
13, 14, by proportion. Accordingly Mr. Gregson, Mr. Hooke, and 
myself, went to Mr. Eaton, told him what we heard commonly re- 
ported, and prayed him to certify us whether the things were so or 
not. He desired us to speak with his wife, which accordingly we 
did. She desired us to ask her mother and daughter and servants, 
they both being present, and calling the forenamed into the room 
where we all were. Upon inquiry it appeared the reports were true, 
and more evils were discovered than we had heard of We now be- 
gan to see that God took us off from treating with her any further 
about the error of her judgment, till we might help forward by the 
will of God her repentance for these evils in life, believing that else 
these evils would by the just judgment of God hinder [her] from re- 
ceiving light, and that repentance for these would further light and 
receiving the truth, — according to John vii, 17. We therefore agreed 
to deal with her in a private way. To that end, because the matter 
was past the first step, or degree of one with one, being known to us 
all, we went together to speak with Mrs. Eaton, and held forth the 
particulars and the rules broken by them, and left it with her, exhort- 
ing her to repent. And having waited a convenient time, but with- 
out any fruit saving a discovery of her hardness of heart and im- 
penitency, we told her that we must acquaint the Church with this 
matter, — and labored with her to prevent it in part at least, by tak- 
ing up the matter in private, by holding forth her repentance pri- 
vately for such particulars as were not commonly reported ; for we 
were unwilling to bring forth such things into public; and some of 
them were of a smaller kind or degree of evil than some other evils, 
and therefore might more easily be ended if it pleased her, — and be- 
gan to read some of them to her. She refused to give any private 
satisfaction for any, — told us that these also were common talk, and 
that she herself had met with reports of them in other houses. We 
answered that, nevertheless, seeing that we had not heard of them, 



300 

we were not bound lo take notice of them in public, nor would, if 
the Lord would help her to see the evil of them, and to hold it forth 
in private. She utterly refused, and told us we labored with her in 
vain, and should have no other answer, and wondered that the 
Church did not proceed. Thus we are compelled to bring sundry 
particulars of which she was privately admonished unto the public 
notice of the Church, because she refused to hear us in a private 
way, — according to the rule in Matt, xviii, 17. There were almost 
as many more which we leave out (nor did privately admonish her 
of) because they are not sufficiently proved by two witnesses as these 
are, and these such witnesses as herself hath not excepted against 
their testimony, though she hath been often desired to object or an- 
swer, what she pleased. The elder will now read the particulars to 
you. 

The several facts for tchich the Church censured Mrs. Eaton. 

" 1. That Mrs. Eaton one day sitting at dinner with Mr. Eaton 
and old Mrs. Eaton,* Mrs. Eaton struck old Mrs. Eaton twice on 
the face with the back of her hand, which Mrs. Eaton saith she felt 
three days after ; and Mr. Eaton sitting at table held his wife's hands, 
and whilst Mr. Eaton held his wife's hands she cried out with such 
vehemency of spirit, ' I am afflicted ! I am afflicted,' as her mother 
saith she thought she might be heard over to Mr. Davenport's. Wit- 
ness, old Mrs. Eaton, and . Herein is broken the fifth com- 
mandment in breaking the rules of her relation lo her mother; and 
also the sixth commandment is broken in her sinful rage and pas- 
sion, and in striking her mother. 

" 2. Mrs. Mary Eatont being knitting a pair of gloves, and when 
she had knit a piece of a glove, her mother said she had knit a glove 
and a piece, which Mrs. Mary denied, and said she had not knit so 
much. Her mother upon this grew outrageous, struck her, pinched 
her, so that the signs of it appeared upon her, and knocked her head 
against the dresser, which made her nose bleed much. Besides 
others who were present, this was done before four Indians, who 
were then in the kitchen. Witnessed by old Mrs. Eaton, and Mrs. 

* See p. 112. 

t Mary was the daugliter of Gov. Eaton by his first, wife. She afterwards 
was married to Valentine Hill, who in 1658 was of Piscatavvay, but at an 
earlier period had been a deacon in tlie First Church of Boston. 



301 

Mary, and Elizabeth Browning, avIio saith, though she was not in 
the kitchen when this was done, yet she was above in the chamber, 
and heard Mrs. Mary cry, and heard the blows up into the chamber, 
and when she came down she saw Mrs. Mary's nose bleed very 
much ; she asked what was the matter, and they told her Mrs. Eaton 
had beat Mrs. Mary. This is a breach of the fifth command in 
breaking the rules of her relation, and so contrary to the rule of the 
Apostle, Eph. vi, 4; Col. iii, 21. And likewise she hath herein 
broken the sixth commandment, contrary to Matt, v, 21, — contrary 
to the rule of the Apostle, Eph. iv, 31. Likewise it is a breach of 
the sixth commandment, as it is a just offense to the Indians and so 
a means of the murder of their souls, and so contrary to the rule of 
the Apostle, 1 Cor. x, 32. 

" 3. That Mrs. Eaton hath unjustly charged Mrs. Mary, saying," 
&-C. [Mrs. Mary denies the imputation. Mary Launce* confirms 
the denial.] " Sister Maudline saith that she living in the house 
about half a year, never saw any light carriage in her that might give 
any suspicion to ground any such charge ; and she took the more 
notice of her carriage, because old Mrs. Eaton had often asked her 
about Mrs. Mary's carriage, because slie had heard her mother had 
spoken many suspicious words concerning Mrs. Mary. Brother 
Lupton saith he never saw any thing in Mrs. Mary but comely and 
well. Brother Broadly saith for light carriage in Mrs. Mary with 
any man, he never saw any in the least, nor had cause for any such 
thought ; and Brother Lupton saith the same. Mrs. Eaton being de- 
manded by Mr. Gregson, Mr. Davenport and Mr. Ilooke, why she 
charged Mrs. Mary with such things, she answered that she said it 
to her to set it more upon her to prevent it, because she observed her 
temper and carriage, (saying her carriage was wanton.) Being 
earnestly pressed to give an instance of any of these charges upon 
her, she then could give none. This charge is confessed in the 
answer Mrs. Eaton gives. This is a breach of the ninth command, 
as it is a slander and that of a high nature ; and concerning the rea- 
son she gives why .she laid this charge upon her daughter, it is con- 
trary to Rom. iii, 8. 

" 4. Mrs. Eaton charged Mrs. Mary to be the cause of the ruin of 
the souls of many that came into the house, especially of Mary 

* Mary Launce was the second wife of Rev. John Sherman of Watertown. 
See p. 5(5. She was still living when Mather puhlished his Magnalia. 



302 

Launce, but showed not wherein. Witness, Mrs. Mary, and Mary 
Launce. This is a sin against the ninth commandment, and con- 
trary to Psal. XV, 3." 

The specifications are seventeen in number, and are all of the 
same kind with the preceding ; all showing a violent ungoverned 
temper, venting itself in the most abusive words towards all in the 
family, from her husband down to " Anthony the neager,"* and 
sometimes impelling her to blows.! In these days, doubts would be 

* Who Anthony was, and what was his relation to Gov. Eaton's family, 
may be learned from the record of " a court the 7th day of December, 1647. 
" The Governor acquainted the Court that he heard that Anthony the ne- 
gro, his servant, got some strong water, and he heard that he was drunk. 
Therefore because it was openly known, he thought it necessary the matter 
should be heard in the Court, whereas, had it been kept within the compass 
of his own family he might have given him family correction for it. 

" Anthony saith he did go to Mr. Evance's house for some sugar, and 
Matthew his negro asked him to drink. He did not refuse it ; and Mr. 
Evance's negro poured somewhat out of a runlet, and gave it him, and went 
away ; and he drank, not knowing what it was. And after he had drunk, he 
was light in his head after he came abroad. 

" Mr. E\ance's negro saith, Anthony coming to their house, he asked him 
to drink, and poured out some strong water which was in the bottom of a 
runlet into a pint pot and drank to him. It was asked him how many times 
Anthony drank. He said but once; but as he conceiveth, at once he drank 
about the quantity of two wine glasses. It was asked him whether he gave 
it him for beer, or told him what it was ; or whether Anthony knew that it 
was strong water. He said he could not tell. 

" The Court considering that it is the first time they have heard any thing 
of Anthony this way; and possibly he might not know what he drank till 
afterwards, it being given him in such a vessel as is used to drink beer out 
of; and hoping it will be a warning to him for time to come, thought it fit 
and agreed not to inflict any public corporal punishment for this time ; but 
as the Governor's zeal and faithfulness hath appeared (not conniving at sin 
in his own family,) so they leave it to him to give that correction which he 
in his wisdom shall judge meet." 

If I were a historical painter, I should be tempted to take for a subject, tlic 
trial of Anthony the negro. 

t The fifteenth particular differs slightly from the others. "When Mr. 
Davenport was in preaching, and speaking something against Anabaptism, 
Mrs. Eaton said, as she sat in her seat, ' It is not so.' And when Mr. Dav- 
enport said he would be brief, she said, ' I would you would,' or ' I pray be 
so.' Anna Eaton heard her mother speak this, and told her brother, and he 
told his mother. Old Mrs. Eaton saith, that Theophilus telling his mother 
of it, she said it was not so. Anna Eaton saith that her mother did deny 
that she said so. But Mrs. Eaton since liath acknowledged she did speak to 
that purpose. This is contrary to Isa. xxx, 8 — 10." 



303 

raised as to the sanity of such an offender. The wife of Gov. Hop- 
kins, who was Mrs. Eaton's daughter by her former husband, was 
for many years the victim of mental derangement. The paper was 
concluded with some testimony of a general nature, from " Sister 
Preston," Mary Launce, Elizabeth Browning, "Brother Lupton," 
and " Brother Broadly." " Brother Lupton saith that it was usual 
when he came home, the maids would complain to him of Mrs. Ea- 
ton's unquietness with them ; and he did speak with Mrs. Eaton, 
and wish her to live in love and peace. She did lay the fault on her 
maids, and he spake to them not to provoke their mistress ; and 
they wished him to pray for tlicm that they might not provoke her, 
Mrs. Mary professing it was the desire of her heart to give her 
mother content and not willingly provoke her. Brother Broadly 
saith he never knew any cause given by the maids to provoke Mrs. 
Eaton, but that they had great {provocations from her ; for they could 
do almost nothing to give lier content, which did discourage them, 
and many times made them careless. He further saith he hath ob- 
served Mrs. Eaton's way to be very unquiet, unstable and self-willed, 
and more of late than formerly. 

" After that the ruling elder had read these several facts, he pro- 
pounded to Mrs. Eaton if she had any thing to object against these 
facts that were charged upon her. She sat down and said nothing. 
After this was done, it was propounded to the brethren whether the 
facts that were read and charged upon Mrs. Eaton were not suffi- 
ciently proved by those witnesses ; and they gave their vote that they 
were sufficiently proved. Then it was propounded to the brethren, 
that they having heard the several rules that was charged upon Mrs. 
Eaton to be broken by her, whether they were rightly applied to the 
several facts : if they were satisfied therein they should declare it by 
lifting up their hands, which accordingly they did. After this was 
done it was again propounded to the brethren that they having heard 
the several facts charged and proved, and the rules she had broken 
thereby, they should take it into their consideration whether she was 
presently to be cast out for these facts, or whether it would admit of 
an admonition only at this time. Then the brethren freely spake 
their apprehensions. Then our pastor stood up and spake to the 
Church and held forth light unto them, shewing that those facts were 
not of that nature that they called for a present cutting off; but he 
rather inclined to give a public solemn admonition; tor though the 
ciiarges were many and great, yet [it was to be considered] whether 



304 

they could be proved to proceed from a habituul frame of sinning in 
her, so as that she may not be counted a visible saint. And he also 
showed that though some sins could not admit of an admonition if 
they were public scandals, as those in 1 Cor. v, yet whether any of 
these facts amounted so high was not clear. After our pastor had 
done speaking, and a litde pause, it was propounded to the brethren 
whether they would have Mrs. Eaton at that time only admonished, 
and they that were of that mind should declare it by holding up of 
hands ; and the brethren with one consent declared by their vote 
that at that time they would have her admonished. After the vote 
was passed, Mrs. Eaton stood up and spake to the Church, desiring 
that at that time there might be no censure passed upon her. Then 
our pastor stood up and answered her that seeing the matter was 
brought into the public, such evils could not pass without the 
Church's rebuke, the rule being they that sin openly must be re- 
buked openly, and she must hear the Church. Then our pastor 
proceeded and passed the sentence of admonition upon her. The 
form of the admonition was thus, that ' In the name of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and with the consent of this Church, I do charge thee, 
Mrs. Eaton, to attend unto the several rules that you have broken, 
and to judge yourself by them, and to hold forth your repentance 
according to God, as you will answer it at the great day of Jesus 
Christ.' 

"After this admonition, the Church waited, expecting the fruit of it. 
But they found by clear and credible information, that she did con- 
tinue oflensive in her way, both in her carriage in her family and oth- 
erwise. And in this time, whilst her carriage was offensive, she sent 
a writing to the ruling elder, which when the elders had considered, 
and found that it neither came up to the acknowledging the particu- 
lars for which she was admonished, nor held forth repentance accor- 
ding to God, and that her spirit was wholly under the former distem- 
pers, the elders agreed to speak with her, that they might encourage 
her, and draw her further on to repentance. In all mildness they 
told her what was defective in this note, and what further would be 
required [according] to God for the Church's satisfaction, to wit, 
three things, — 1, that she should acknowledge the facts according to 
the evidence in the particulars, and fall under the rules she had 
transgressed by those facts as appeared in the admonition, — 2, that 
she should [hold] Ibrth her repentance, confess her sins, and judge 
herself for them,— *3, that because there was a tract and course of 



305 

scandalous miscarriages, she should hold forth such reformation as 
might be testified to the Church's satisfaction according to God by 
some that ordinarily conversed with her. This advice she seemed 
to receive thankfully, and to purpose to apply herself thereunto. 

" But after about three quarters of a year waiting, no fruit of re- 
pentance appeared, so that sundry of the Church showed themselves 
unsatisfied at these delays. From sundry other Churches also in the 
Bay and at Connecticut, being made acquainted with the proceed- 
ings of the Church in this matter, we saw that the Church was 
thought to be defective by their slowness to use the last remedy which 
Christ hath appointed for recovery in this case. Hereupon [the 
elders] went to her in private, and told her, that though it had been 
her duty to have sought reconciliation with the Church, whom she 
had offended, and knew they were yet unsatisfied, yet seeing she 
neglected, the elders came to her to see what fruit yet might appear 
of the public, solemn admonition, to the end they might give some 
account thereof to the Church. She answered, she confessed it was 
her duty so to have done, but she [was] hindered by not finding in 
herself repentance to her own satisfaction. Being then pressed to 
know what hindered her repentance, and told that it must be either 
something charged upon her in way of fact whereof she was not 
guilty, or else some rule was not rightly applied to her conviction ; if 
she had any such thing to alledge, they said, ' We are here to inform 
your judgment.' She answered, she had nothing to say against the 
admonition. Being then further pressed to speak if any such objec- 
tion stuck with her, or else they could not see but she hardened her- 
self and slighted the admonition, then she said she was not convin- 
ced of the breach of the fifth commandment in the first fact charged, 
for she did not acknowledge her husband's mother to be her mother. 
The elders answered, they conceived that was sufficiently cleared 
before, that she had broken the fifth commandment, and therefore 
referred to the admonition; — and finding that she continued obsti- 
nate, parted from her with these expressions, that we must give an 
account to the Church of what we found, and did bewail the hard- 
ness of her heart, and sliould mourn for her in secret. 

" Between this and the time she was to give her answer to the 
Church, she sent another writing to the ruling elder, which when 
the elders read they found it to be far short of holding forth that re- 
pentance the rule required, and [far short] of the first writing which 
yet when she wrote she was under the power of distemper as before. 

39 



306 

And so [she] continued to the very time of her coming before the 
Church. 

" Upon the 20th day of the third month, 1645, being the Lord's 
day, after the contribution, Mrs. Eaton was called before the Church 
in the public assembly, to see what fruit was of the admonition. The 
particular facts charged upon her were read unto her. She answered 
then to some of them ; but it growing late, the Church left off for 
that time, and appointed the fourth day following to issue that mat- 
ter. The next fourth day, after lecture was ended, Mrs. Eaton was 
called again. When she gave her answer to the Church, it pleased 
God to leave her so far to herself to the discovering of her distemper, 
that though full of tears at other times when she hath a mind to ex- 
press herself that way, yet at both times when she appeared before 
the Church she behaved herself without any show of remorse, and 
expressed herself with an ostentation of empty words, which fell far 
short of the several charges in the admonition ; and added unto the 
former offenses new offenses and lies in the presence of the assembly 
as followeth," &>c. 

" Before the Church proceeded to sentence, the mind of God con- 
cerning the censure was so [clear] to the whole Church, that the 
brethren being desired by the elders to express their apprehensions 
concerning the case in hand, sundry of the brethren spake weightily 
to convince her of her obstinacy in her sins, and all and every one 
of them, with one consent, gave their vote to her casting out. — first, 
for not hearing the Church in her admonition, according to the rule, 
Matt, xviii, — secondly, for new offenses she gave, for lying before 
the Church, according to the rule. Rev. xxii, 15, and 1 Cor. v. And 
not the brethren only, but some elders of other Churches being pre- 
sent, and being desired by the elders to declare their judgment con- 
cerning this case, they did both speak weightily to her, and justify 
the way of the Church concerning her casting out ; — one of them 
adding that if this case had been in the Churches up the river, it 
would not have been delayed so long. And thus with much grief of 
heart, and many tears, the Church proceeded to censure; wherein 
God showed a wonderful presence to the satisfaction of all that were 
present" 



307 

Concerning Henry Glover's seehing reconciliation with the Church, 
for the scandalous evils for which he was cast out, and the Church's 
receiving of him again, the llth day of the 6th month, 1644. 

" Henry Glover having acquainted the elders with his desire of 
being reconciled to the Church, and to hold forth his repentance to 
the satisfaction of the Church according to God for those scandalous 
evils for which he was justly cast out, they appointed him a time and 
heard him what he could say ; which they considered of And they 
likewise heard from sundry who conversed with him, of his sorrowful 
and mournful walking, which was commonly taken notice of, as 
formerly his scandals were. The elders having prepared the matter 
for the hearing of the Church, appointed him the next Lord's day 
to speak before the whole Church in the mixed assembly. After the 
morning exercise was ended, the ruling elder desired the brethren 
to stay ; and after the assembly was departed, he acquainted them 
with the desire of Henry Glover, and also desired those brethren 
that had been most in company with Henry Glover, they should 
speak what they had observed. Sundry of the brethren then spoke, 
and gave an encouraging testimony concerning him. The brethren 
agreed that he should have liberty to speak in the afternoon. After 
the contribution was ended, the ruling elder declared to the assembly 
that Henry Glover who stood excommunicated, desired to be recon- 
ciled to God and to the Church, and to hold forth his repentance 
according to God. If the brethren consented that he should now 
speak, we should take their silence for their consent. After a little 
pause, the brethren being silent, the ruling elder desired some that 
stood near the door to call in Henry Glover.* When he came in, 
the ruling elder spake to him, and told him that he had liberty granted 
to speak. Then he acknowledged the several facts for which he 
was cast out, and the rules he had broken ; and showed also how 
many temptations he had been exercised with from Satan since he 
was cast out; and how God had humbled him for those sins for 
which he was cast out, and made them bitter to him, and brought 
him to repentance, and gave him hope of mercy in the preaching of 
the word ; and also expressed his earnest desire of being reconciled 
to the Church. After he had done speaking, the ruling elder desi- 
red the brethren to declare whether he had spoken to their satisfac- 
tion ; and they declared their apprehensions. Afterwards it was 

* See p. 48. 



308 

desired of those brethren that lived about him, and had most deal- 
ing with him, they should testify how they found the frame of his 
spirit, and what humiliation and reformation they saw of those evils 
for which he was cast out ; and sundry of the brethren gave a good 
testimony concerning him. After this it was desired if any other 
that were not of the Church had anything wherein they were unsat- 
isfied in point of his conversation, they might speak and the Church 
would consider of it; but none spoke but Goodman Chapman, who 
spoke something tending to clear him. 

"Afterwards it was propounded to the brethren whether they 
would defer the issuing of this matter till next Lord's day, the busi- 
ness being of so great weight as the loosing a man from his sin and 
setting him in the fellowship of the Church again. The brethren 
agreed that it should be deferred till next Lord's day. Henry Glo- 
ver standing up by a pillar, went hastily down when he saw it was 
deferred till the next Lord's day, and he let some words fall which 
had the appearance of discontent because it was not then issued. 
His carriage in this matter, to the elders and many of the brethren 
that observed him, had an appearance of passion and pride, as if he 
thought he had held out that which might have satisfied. It was 
desired by the elders that he might be called in again. Our pastor 
stood up and spake to him, and told him that there was a law in the 
xiiith and xivth Chapt. Levit. concerning the cleansing the leper, that 
he was to be shut up seven days to see if his leprosy was cleansed. 
The leper under the law answered the state of an excommunicated 
person now. And the matter being so weighty, and he having left 
some suspicion by that carriage of his whether he was perfectly healed 
or not, made it necessary. [He] told him that the brethren did it 
out of tenderness to him. So it was respited till the next Lord's day. 
" The next Lord's day, Henry Glover was called again, and re- 
quired to answer some questions that were propounded to him for 
the more full satisfaction of the Church concerning his repentance, 
and also concerning his carriage the last Lord's day. After he had 
answered, it was propounded to the brethren, if they had any other 
thing to propound to him they should speak. After sundry had 
spoken to him what they desired, it was propounded to vote in man- 
ner following, — that if the brethren were so far satisfied with what 
they had heard Henry Glover hold forth concerning his repentance, 
as they were willing he should be loosed from the sentence of ex- 
communication under which he stood bound, and to admit him to 



309 

the liberties and privileges of the Church he formerly enjoyed, they 
should declare it by holding up of hands; which they did. Then it 
was again propounded to vote, if there was any of the brethren that 
was otherwise minded, they should declare it by holding up of hands. 
But there was none held up to the contrary ; but all the brethren 
with one consent agreed to the receiving him again. 

*' Then our pastor stood up, and charged him, telling him that he 
was in the presence of Christ who searches the hearts and tries the 
reins; and though the Church judged as men by such rules as they 
were to walk by, yet the Lord knew whether that which he held 
forth was in truth or not. But the brethren were apt to receive any 
thing that they might judge according to rule to be in truth. After 
he had done speaking he went to prayer, begging a blessing on the 
ordinance of absolution ; and in his prayer went over all the particu- 
lars of his sins for which he was censured, and how he was hurried 
after he was cast out, and how God had brought him to repentance 
both by his word and by his providences ; and he begged of God 
that he would make it appear his repentance was in truth, and that 
what was done by the Church might be according to the mind of 
Christ, and that he would ratify it in heaven. And after prayer [he] 
pronounced him absolved, thus, ' Henry Glover, I do in the name of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and by power delegated from Jesus Christ to 
his Church, pronounce thee absolved and set free from the sentence 
of excommunication under which thou hast stood bound, and do re- 
store thee to the liberties and privileges of this Church which thou 
formerly didst enjoy.' " 

I know not where to look for a more copious illustration of tiie du- 
ties performed by the ruling elder in the primitive New England 
Churches, than is contained in the preceding records. Why was 
this office so early dropped in the Churches generally 1 The most 
cogent rea.son, doubtless, was the difficulty of finding suitable men 
to sustain the dignity and perform the work of such an eldership. 
The fathers of New England carried their distinction between 
Church and State so far, that no man who held any civil office was 
allowed to hold at the same time an office in the Church, Thus in 
1GG9, Roger Ailing having been inadvertently chosen town treasurer 
when he stood under a nomination for the office of deacon in the 
Church, the election was set aside, and another treasurer chosen. 
And ten years earlier, Matthew Gilbert was not put in nomination 
for the magistracy, till he had ceased to be deacon. See Savage's 
Winthrop, I, 3L 



310 



No. IV. 

THE PRIMITIVE MEETING HOUSE IN NEW HAVEN. 

The custom still lingers in some parts of New England, of " seat- 
ing" the people in the meeting house by a committee. When this 
custom was given up in New Haven, I have not ascertained. Prob- 
ably it was continued till about the middle of the last century. In 
several instances the records of the town exhibit the assignment of 
persons to seats, with the names of all the individuals. The earliest 
record of this kind is in the proceedings of " a General Court," or 
town meeting, "held the 10th of March, 1646." As the record 
shows both the meeting house and the congregation, I have thought 
it worth copying. 

" The names of people as they were seated in the meeting house 
were read in court; and it was ordered that they should be recorded 
which was as followeth, viz : 

" The middle seats have, to sit in them, 

1st seat. The Governor and Deputy Governor. 

2d seat. Mr. Malbon, magistrate. 

3d seat. Mr. Evance, Mr. Bracey, Mr. Francis Newman, Mr. 
Gibbard. 

4th seat. Goodman Wigglesworth, Bro. Atwater, Bro. Seely, Bro. 
Myles. 

5th seat. Bro. Crane, Bro. Gibbs, Mr. Caffinch, Mr. Ling, Bro. 
Andrews. 

6th seat. Bro. Davis, Goodman Osborne, Anthony Thompson, 
Mr. Browning, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Higginson. 

7th seat. Bro. Camfield, Mr. James, Bro. Benham, Wm. Thomp- 
son, Bro. Lindall, Bro. Martin. 

8th seat. Jno. Meggs, Jno. Cooper, Peter Browne, Wm. Peck, 
Jno. Gregory, Nich. Elsie. 

9th seat. Edw. Banister, John Herryman, Benja. Wilmot, Jarvis 
Boykin, Arthur Holbridge. 

" In the cross scats at the end, 

1st seat. Mr. Pell, Mr. Tuttle, Bro. Fowler. 

2d seat. Thorn. Nash, Mr. Allerton, Bro. Perry. 

3d seat. Jno. Nash, David Atwater, Thom. Yale. 



311 

4th seat. Robert Johnson, Thom. Jeffery, John Punderson. 
5th seat. Thom. Munson, John Livermore, Roger Allen, Jos. 
Nash, Sam. Whithead, Thom. James. 

In the other little seat, John Clarke, Mark Pierce. 

" In the scats on the side, for men, 

1st, Jeremy Whitnell, Wm. Preston, Thomas Kimberly, Thom. 
Powell. 

2d, Daniel Paul, Rich. Beckly, Richard Mansfield, James Russell. 

3d, Win. Potter, Thom. Lampson, Christopher Todd, William 
Ives. 

4th, Hen. Glover, Wm. Tharpe, Matthias Hitchcock, Andrevi' Low. 
On the other side of the door. 

1st, John Mosse, Luke Atkinson, Jno. Thomas, Abraham Bell. 

2d, George Smith, John Wackfield, Edvv. Pattison, Richard 
Beech. 

8d, John Basset, Timothy Ford, Thom. Knowles, Robert Preston. 

4th, Richd. Osborne, Robert Hill, Jno. Wilford, Henry Gibbons. 

5th, Francis Browne, Adam Nichols, Goodman Leeke, Goodman 
Daighton. 

6th, Wm. Gibbons, John Vincent,Thomas Wheeler, John Brockett. 

" Secondly , for the women's seats, in the middle. 

1st seat. Old Mrs. Eaton. 

2d seat. Mrs. Malbon, Mrs. Grigson, Mrs. Davenport, Mrs. 
Hooke. 

3d seat. Elder Newman's wife, Mrs. Lamberton, Mrs. Turner, 
Mrs. Brewster. 

4th seat. Sister Wakeman, Sister Gibbard, Sister Gilbert, Sister 
Myles. 

5th seat. Mr. Francis Newman's wife. Sister Gibbs, Sister Crane, 
Sister Tuttil, Sister Atwater. 

6th seat. Sister Seely, Mrs. Caffinch, Mrs. Perry, Sister Davis, 
Sister Cheevers, Jno. Nash's wife. 

7th seat. David Atwater's wife. Sister Clarke, Mrs. Yale, Sister 
Osborne, Sister Thompson. 

8th seat. Sister Wigglesworth, Goody Johnson, Goody Camfield, 
Sister Punderson, Goody Meggs, Sister Gregory. 

9th seat. Sister Todd, Sister Boykin, Wm. Potter's wife, Mat- 
thias Hitchcock's wife. Sister Cooper. 

" In the cross seats at the end. 

1st, Mrs. Bracey, Mrs. Evauce. 



313 

2d, Sister Fowler, Sister Ling, Sister Allerton. 

3d, Sister Jeffery, Sister Rutherford, Sister Livermore. 

4th, Sister Preston, Sister Benham, Sister Mansfield. 

5th, Sister Allen, Goody Banister, Sister Kiraberly, Goody Wil- 
mott, Mrs. Higginson. 

In the little cross seat, Sister Potter the midwife, and old Sister 
Nash. 

" In the seats on the sides. 

1st seat. Sister Powell, Goody Lindall, Mrs. James. 

2d seat. Sister Whithead, Sister Munson, Sister Beckly, Sister 
Martin. 

3d seat. Sister Peck, Joseph Nash's wife, Peter Browne's wife. 
Sister Russell. 

4th seat. Sister Ives, Sister Bassett, Sister Pattison, Sister Elsie. 

" In the seats on the other side of the door. 

1st seat. Jno. Thomas's wife. Goody Knowles, Goody Beech, 
Goody Hull. 

2d seat. Sister Wackfield, Sister Smith, Goody Mosse, James 
Clarke's wife. 

3d seat. Sister Brockett, Sister Hill, Sister Clarke, Goody Ford. 

4th seat. Goody Osborne, Goody Wheeler, Sister Nichols, Sister 
Browne." 

From the fact that in the foregoing schedule, no seat is assigned 
to Ezekiel Cheevers, and from some occasional mention of " the 
scholars' seats" in other parts of the records, it may be inferred that 
the pupils of the school were seated together, perhaps in the gallery, 
under the care of their instructor. Servants also, and young people 
generally, seem to have no place in the schedule.* 

* The reader will notice that in this assignment of seats no mention is 
made of " Mrs. Eaton the Governor's wife ;" which seems to agree with 
what Lechford says as cited on p. 48. Another assignment of seats was 
made in 1655; and then, as the committee come to " the women's seats," 
they begin thus, " T/ic long seats. The first as it was," giving no name. 
Yet in the same document, that is afterwards spoken of as " Mrs. Eaton's 
seat." If there had been such a rule as Lechford describes, they seem to 
have begun to get around it as early as 165.5. At the second seating, the 
house seems to have been more crowded than at the first ; probably because 
many who in 1646 were servants, had in 1655 become householders, and 
under the equalizing influence of free institutions, were approaching the 
same level with their former masters. 



313 



No. V. 

NOTICES OF SOME OV THE PLANTERS OF NEW HAVEN. 

Stephen Goodyear, who from the organization of the civil gov- 
ernment of New Haven till his death, stood almost uniformly in the 
office of deputy governor, appears to have been one of the merchants 
who followed Mr. Davenport from London to this country, and whose 
commercial habits and tastes determined the location of the colony 
and the plan of the town. His wife was one of the company who 
were lost at sea in 1646. (Winthrop, H, 176.) He afterwards mar- 
ried Mrs. Lamberton, the widow of the master of that unfortunate 
bark. Among other specimens of his activity and public spirit, we 
find him in 1655 forward in proposing and getting up " the iron 
works" at East Haven, which he thought " would be a great advan- 
tage to the town." He died in London, in the year 1658. He was 
obviously considered by the colonists, as second only to Eaton in 
qualifications for the service of their commonwealth. Trum. I, 233. 

Thomas Gregson, (or Grigson,) was a man of less wealth than 
many of his associates in the colony ; yet while he lived he was con- 
tinually entrusted with important offices. He was always one of the 
" magistrates," who with the governor and deputy governor, were 
at once the superior branch of the legislature, and the supreme judi- 
ciary. He was sent with Gov. Eaton, in 1643, to meet commission- 
ers from the other colonies; for the purpose of forming that New Eng- 
land confederacy, in which, with its annual congress, the philosophic 
reader of history sees the first manifestation of the tendency which 
has resulted in our great federal government. Tn only one instance 
while he lived, was any other person associated with Eaton in the 
responsibility of representing New Haven colony in that congress. 
Of his activity as a member of the Church, some indication appears 
in the extracts from early Church records in No. IH, of this Appen- 
dix. He was one of those lost at sea in 1646, he being then com- 
missioned by the colony to apply to parliament for a charter. His 
only son afterwards settled in London. One of his daughters mar- 
ried the Rev. John Whiting of Hartford. Dodd, East Haven Reg- 
ister, 125. 

40 



314 

His name has had some accidental celebrity, by its being the 
theme of one of the stupendous falsehoods of Peters. See Kingsley's 
Discourse, 87 — 90. 

The two most remarkable military men of the New England colo- 
nies, Standish of Plymouth, and Mason of Connecticut, had acquired 
military skill and experience in the wars of the Netherlands. The 
same is true of Underbill, first of Boston, afterwards of Piscataqua, 
afterwards for a season of Stamford, in the New Haven jurisdiction, 
and afterwards a subject of the Dutch government in the New Neth- 
erlands, whose wife was a Dutch woman, and who was himself one 
of the most dramatic characters in our early history. The same may 
be presumed of " Captaine Nathaniel Turner," who at a General 
Court on the 1st of the 7th month, 1640, was formally " chosen" " to 
have the command of all martiall affairs of this plantation." Like 
Underbill, he had acquired his military title before coming to this 
country. He was made a freeman of Massachusetts in October, 
1630. His name next appears in the first roll of representatives in 
Massachusetts, (A. D. 1634,) he having been deputed from Sagus, 
where he was one of the most considerable planters. Winthrop, T, 129. 
Next we find him (ibid. 192,) one of the captains in the expedition 
of 1636, from Massachusetts against the Pequots. In January, 1637, 
his house at Sagus was burnt down, " with all that was in it save 
the persons." (ibid. 213.) The editor of Winthrop (H, 276,) speaks 
of him, (I know not on what authority,) as having been in Stough- 
ton's expedition in 1637; though the burning of his house in Jan- 
uary might naturally have excused him from such a service in June. 
In 1638, he accompanied the adventurers who were to form the new 
colony at Quinnipiack. In this colony he was one of the most 
valued men. He not only had " the command of all martial affairs," 
but was continually entrusted with important civil offices. He was 
one of the committee of six appointed in 1639, to " have the dispo- 
sing of all the house lots about this towne," and without whose " con- 
sent and allowance" none should come to dwell as planters. He 
was the agent of New Haven for the purchase of land on the Dela- 
ware Bay, and the beginning of a plantation there. In 1643, at the 
first complete organization of a legislature for the whole jurisdiction, 
he was one of the deputies from New Haven. He too was lost in 
the fatal ship. His wife afterwards married a Dutch merchant, 
Samuel Goodenhouse, (or Van Goodenhousen,) who was for many 



315 

years settled in New Haven. Was this alliance because Capt. Tur- 
ner's wife, like Capt. Underbill's, was a Dutcb woman 1 The de- 
scendants of Capt. Turner, bearing his name, reside, I believe, in 
North Haven. Thomas Mix, the common ancestor of all who bear 
that name, and the great grandfather of the late Judge Stephen Mix 
Mitchell, married Rebecca, the daughter of Capt. Turner. 

Lieut. Robert Seely, (or Ceely,) is named by Lyon Gardner in 
his " Relation of the Pequot wars," (HI, Mass. Hist. Coll. HI, 153,) 
" as one of the right New England worthies," who with Maj. Mason 
and Capt. Underbill, " undertook the desperate way and design to 
Mistick Fort." He was made a freeman of Massachusetts in Octo- 
ber, 1G30, and was of Watertown in 1631. (Farmer.) Having re- 
moved with other Watertown people to Connecticut, probably to 
Wethersfield, he was Capt. Mason's lieutenant in the celebrated 
expedition which annihilated the Pequots. (HI, Mass. Hist. Coll. 
HI, 143.) At the organization of the government of New Haven, 
he was chosen marshall, which office he retained till he was suc- 
ceeded by " Brother Thomas Kimberly." In 1642, he was formally 
chosen lieutenant of the train band, and after that election he was, 
as before, frequently employed about the martial affairs. In Octo- 
ber, 1646, he " had liberty of the court to depart for England, though 
a public officer." He seems however either to have deferred his 
voyage, or to have been absent only a few months, for in February, 
1648, he was still here. From June, 1651, he seems to have been 
absent for a long time. In 1662, he had " returned from England ;" 
and at a town meeting, "a motion was made in his behalf for some 
encouragement for his settling among us," which does not appear to 
have resulted in any thing effectual. Probably he settled either on 
Long Island or in Fairfield county. A Capt. Seely of Stratford, fell 
in "the great swamp fight" with the Narragansetts, in 1675. 

William Gibbard was for many years Treasurer of the town and 
of the colony ; and from 1658, till just before the union with Con- 
necticut, Secretary. While the records, full, minute and accurate, 
shall remain, his works, notwithstanding his complaint " that his 
hand was much too slow for the court," will not cease to praise him. 
Of his modesty, one specimen may be given, which sets in a striking 
light the difference between ancient and modern times. In April, 
1661, he was nominated at a town meeting, to be propounded at the 



316 

court of election, for a magistrate; whereupon he "declared that be 
was satisfied in himself that he was not called of God to that place, 
both in regard of some inward unfitness which he finds in himself, 
and in regard of some circumstances respecting his outward condi- 
tion which would not admit of it." His fellow citizens thought more 
highly of him than he thought of himself, and insisted on their nomi- 
nation. They told him " that what was done had not been done 
rashly ; they therefore saw not ground to alter from it, nor must they 
make any such precedent, which would be of such ill consequence." 
Being thus promoted against his will, the office of Secretary passed 
from his hands into those of James Bishop. 

In 1656, his barn was set on fire by the malice of an indented 
servant boy, and both barn and house were consumed. Two years 
afterwards, " Mr. Gibbard acquainted the town that a friend of his 
in England hath sent a parcel of books to the town in the way of 
thankfulness for the kindness that the said Mr. Gibbard had received 
from them since his house was burned ; and he now desired to know 
how the town would have them disposed of It was declared that 
seeing they are most of them Latin school books, they leave it to 
him, the schoolmaster, and such others as they shall take in to ad- 
vise with for the disposing of them." He died in 1663. 

John Nash deserves to be commemorated here for an instance 
of modesty parallel to that exhibited by Secretary Gibbard. He had 
long been a man of some military standing, as ensign, and as lieuten- 
ant. In 1660, " it being recommended by the General Court to the 
several plantations, that as they are furnished with able men, a cap- 
tain might be chosen for the military service. Lieutenant Nash was 
nominated as a man fit for that place; whereupon he declared that 
he hoped the rules of God in Scripture would be considered and at- 
tended in this matter, whereby it appears that such as were chosen 
were men of courage and valor, chief men, men of estates, such as 
rendered the place to be a place of respect. He said he was satisfied 
in himself that he was not meetly qualified for that place, and desired 
that they would not choose a man to expose themselves and him to 
derision. The Governor told the town, (they having heard Lieut. 
Nash's answer,) they might propound some other. But the freemen 
and others still showing their inclination to him, he said that he 
could not see it to be the will of God for him to accept though they 
should choose ; which if they did he thought would put him upon a 



317 

temptation to refuse, or else to tliiiik of removing, which he desired 
they would not put him to, but that it might be forborne. Which be- 
ing put to vote, it was yet determined to proceed to a present choice. 
But Lieutenant Nash earnestly pressing them to forbear, appealing 
to God who knew the uprightness of his heart in what he had said, 
it was respited till another time. Whereupon Lieutenant Nash 
thanked the town for sparing him at this time, and said, if God shall 
persuade his heart of his call to this work, he shall be willing to do 
the town service." Ultimately, I believe, but not till more than a 
year afterwards, the Lieutenant became convinced of the genuine- 
ness of his call to be Captain. In 1672, he was chosen one of the 
Assistants of Connecticut. (Trumbull, I, 322.) See p. IGO. 

Matthew Gilbert, who was one of the " seven pillars," and who 
in connection with Robert Newman, was chosen one of the first 
deacons of the Church, appears to have resigned the deacon's office 
in 1658, if not earlier, for in that year he was chosen one of the 
Magistrates, and about the same time, the ordination of Brother 
Peck and Brother Miles to the deacon's office, was entered in the 
Church Records. In 1661, after the death of Gov. Newman, Mr. 
Gilbert was chosen deputy governor. Three years afterwards, he 
was superseded in that office by Gov. Jones, and was again elected 
Magistrate. This was the last year of the independent jurisdiction 
of New Haven Colony. He died in 1680 ; and it is probably his 
grave, with the initials M. G., which is pointed out as the grave of 
Goffe the Regicide. 

Robert Newman, first deacon, and afterwards ruling elder, is 
mentioned with some particulars on p. 20. Francis Newman, to 
whose minute accuracy as Secretary, afterwards imitated by Gib- 
bard and Bishop, we are indebted for almost all our knowledge of 
the early times of New Haven, is commemorated on pages 114, 115. 
Robert Newman appears to have returned to London after 1651, and 
sometime before 1657. See p. 157. 

The reader will naturally inquire after the " seven pillars." Of 
the first four, Eaton, Davenport, Newman, and Gilbert, he is already 
sufficiently informed. The remaining three were less distinguished. 

Thomas Fugill was the first Secretary, with the title of " public 
notary." The records made by him are a wonder for the beauty of 



318 

the penmanship ; but they are far less satisfactory than those made 
by his successors, particularly after Francis Newman came into that 
office. In the year 1645, he fell under censure for having made an 
incorrect record for his own advantage. He was very sternly dealt 
with, turned out of his office, and excommunicated from the Church. 
Soon afterwards he returned, it is believed, to London. 

Of John Punderson, little appears upon the records. His de- 
scendants have been numerous and respectable. His son John, and 
his grandson John, were deacons of the Church of which he was one 
of the founders. He died February 11, 1680. 

jEREMiAn Dixon, (in the records his name is written Jeremi/,) left 
New Haven at an early period ; and I have as yet been unable to 
trace him. It does not appear that he returned to England ; yet his 
removal was probably to a distance. 

In selecting the seven pillars it seems to have been intended to 
have all orders and ranks in the community fairly represented. Fu- 
gill and Punderson were men of small estates. Dixon was an un- 
married man. 

Master Ezekiel Cheever, (or Cheevers,) was the father of New 
England schoolmasters. He died in August, 1708, having probably 
outlived all who with him were the founders of the New Haven 
Church. His funeral sermon was preached by Cotton Mather, and 
published with a "Historical Introduction," and a poetical " Essay" 
on his memory. Some extracts from the work are given in II, Mass. 
Hist. Coll. VII, 130, as supplementary to a brief account of Cheever 
gathered out of the town records, by the late Col. Lyon. 

Mather says, in his " Historical Introduction," " He was born in 
London many years before the birth of New England. It was Jan- 
uary 25th, 1614 (i. e. 16}f.) He arrived in this country in June, 
1637, with the rest of those good men, who sought a peaceable 
secession in an American wilderness, for the pure evangelical and 
instituted worship of our great Redeemer, to which he kept a strict 
adherence all his days. He then sojourned first, a little while, part of 
a year, at Boston ; so that at Boston he both commenced and conclu- 
ded his American race. His holy life was a married life. He died 
in Boston, August 21st, 1708, in the ninety-fourth year of his age ; 
after he had been a skilful, painful, faithful schoolmaster for seventy 
years ; and had the singular favor of Heaven, that though he had 
usefully spent his life among children, yet he had not become Uvice a 



319 

chihl, but held liis abilities, with his usefulness, in an unusual degree, 
to the very last." 

In the Sermon, Dr. Mather says, " It was noted, that when schol- 
ars came to be admitted into the College, they who came from the 
Checvei'ian education, wexe generally the most unexceptionable. He 
flourished so long in the great work of bringing our sons to be men, 
that it gave him an opportunity to send forth many Bezakels and 
Aholiabs for the service of the tabernacle, and men fitted for all good 
employments. He that was my master seven and thirty years ago, 
was a master to many of my betters no less than seventy years ago ; 
so long ago, that I must even mention my father's tutor for one of 
them." 

Particular notice is taken of " his piety, and his care to infuse 
documents of piety into the scholars under his charge, that he might 
carry them with him to the heavenly world. He so constantly prayed 
with us every day, and catechized us every week, and let fall such 
holy counsels upon us ; he took so many occasions to make speeches 
to us, that should make us afraid of sin, and of incurring the fearful 
judgments of God by sin, — that I do propose him for imitation." 

Having shown what his " master was i?i the school," he adds, 
"Out of the school, he was one, antiqud fide, yriscis moribus; a 
Christian of the old fashion ; an Old New England Christian ; 
and I may tell you, that was as venerable a sight as the world, since 
the days of primitive Christianity, has ever looked upon. He was 
well studied in the body of divinity; an able defender of the faith 
and order of the gospel ; notably conversant and acquainted with 
the scriptural prophecies. 

" He lived as a master the term which has been, for above three 
thousand years, assigned for the life of man; he continued to the 
ninety-fourth year of his age, — his intellectual force as little abated 
as his natural." 

Col. Lyon says, in his brief Note on Ezekiel Cheever, '' I am igno- 
rant whether he came from England with Governor Eaton, in IG37, 
or joined him at Boston ; but he came to New Haven with him. 
His name appears in the Plantation Covenant, signed in Newman's 
barn, June 4, 1639. Although a poor man, he must have been of 
considerable estimation, as he signed among their principal men. 
Every thing was done with much formality at that time. By their 
doomsday-book, I find his family consisted of himself and wife only. 
She died in 1G49. His estate was set at ^20, and a ^qw acres of 



320 

wild land beside. He taught school, and sometimes conducted pub- 
lic worship. It is probable that he wrote his Accidence at New 
Haven. In 1644, his salary was raised to =£30 per annum ; for three 
years before, he had received but £20 per annum. 

"I suppose he left this town about the year 1650, (his name does 
not appear on the records after that,) and spent the remainder of his 
long life in the Bay State. In Cambridge catalogue, I see that 
Thomas Chcever was graduated in 1677 ; perhaps a son of Ezekiel, 
by a second wife." 

What Col. Lyon calls the "doomsday-book" of the New Haven 
planters may be .seen in Barber's Hist, and Antiq. of New Haven, 
p. 38. Ezekiel Cheever's family, instead of being set down there 
as " consisting of himself and his wife only," included three persons 
as early as the uncertain date of that document, probably 1638. If 
Col. Lyon had consvdted the baptismal record, he would have seen 
that Ezekiel had a numerous family without a "second wife." The 
second baptism in the record, is that of " Samuel Cheevers, the son 
of Ezekiel Cheevers," " the 17th of the 9th month," 1639. Mary 
his daughter was baptized 29th of Nov. 1640. His son Ezekiel was 
baptized the 12th of June, 1642. Another daughter, Elizabeth, was 
baptized the 6th of April, 1645. " Sarah Cheever," probably another 
daughter of his, was baptized 21st September, 1646. " Hannah 
Cheever," 25th of June, 1648. 

Pres. Stiles in his Literary Diary, 25th April, 1772, mentions 
seeing " the Rev. and aged Mr. Samuel Maxwell of Warren," R. I., 
and adds, " He told me he well knew the famous Grammar school- 
master, Mr. Ezekier Cheever of Boston, author of the Accidence ; 
that he wore a long, white beard, terminating in a point ; that when 
he stroked his beard to the point, it was a sign to the boys to stand 
clear." " In Mr. Maxwell, I have seen a man who had been ac- 
quainted with one of the original and first settlers of New England. 
Now a rarity !" 

Afterwards, in 1774, July 14th, Dr. Stiles mentions reading Dr. 
Mather's sermon on the death of Cheever ; and having noted down 
several dates from the sermon, he adds, " He was a pious and learned 
divine as well as preceptor. He wore his beard to the day of his 
death. He very much formed and established the New England 
pronunciation of Latin and Greek. He printed an English Acci- 
dence, still in use. The hair of his head and beard were white as 
snow. ' He died, leaning like old Jacob upon a staff; the sacrifice 



321 

and the righteousness of a glorious Christ, he let us know, was the 
staff' which he leaned upon.' I have seen those who knew the ven- 
erable saint, particularly Rev. John Barnard of Marblehead, who was 
fitted for college by Mr. Cheever, and entered 1698. It is said that if 
he stroked his beard upon his boys doing ill, it was a certain sign of 
severity." 

Besides his Accidence, Cheever published a book on the millen- 
nium, Allen, Biog. Diet. 

The following petition, copied from the Hutchinson papers in the 
library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, is published in 
"Prize Book, No. IV, of the Public Latin School in Boston," 1823. 

" To his ExcdUncy, Sir Edmund Andross, Knight, Governor and 
Captain General of Ins Majesty^ s territories and dominions in 
Neic England. 

" The humble petition of Ezekiel Cheever of Boston, schoolmas- 
ter, sheweth that your poor petitioner hath near fifty years been em- 
ployed in the work and office of a public Grammar-schoolmaster in 
several places in this country. With what acceptance and success, 
I submit to the judgment of those that are able to testify. Now see- 
ing God is pleased mercifully yet to continue my wonted abilities of 
mind, health of body, vivacity of spirit, delight in my work, which 
alone I am any way fit for and capable of, and whereby I have my 
outward subsistence, — I most humbly entreat your Excellency, that 
according to your former kindness so often manifested, I may by 
your Excellency's favor, allowance and encouragement, still be con- 
tinued in my present place. And whereas there is due to me about 
fifty-five pounds for my labors past, and the former way of that part 
of my maintenance is thought good to be altered, — I with all sub- 
mission beseech your Excellency, that you would be pleased to give 
order for my due satisfaction, the want of which would fall heavy 
upon me in my old age, and my children also, who are otherwise 
poor enough. And your poor petitioner shall ever pray, &/C. 
" Your Excellency's most humble servant, 

" EzEKiEL Cheever." 

At New Haven, Ezekiel Cheever was not so confined to his du- 
ties in the school as to be excluded from other honorable employ- 
ments. In October, 1646, he was one of the deputies from New 
Haven to the General Court for the jurisdiction. He was also a 

41 



322 

preacher ; for I find that in May, 1647, among other " gross miscar- 
riages" charged upon one " Richard Smoolt, servant to Mrs. Tur- 
ner," for the aggregate of which he was " severely whipped," — was 
his "scoffing at the word of God which was preached by Mr. 
Cheevers." 

I have not seen Mather's sermon on the death of Mr. Cheever. 
Of the two specimens that follow from the poetical " Essay," I find 
the first in Allen, and the last in the notice published among the 
Historical Collections. 

" A mighty tribe of well instructed youth 
Tell what they owe to him, and tell with truth. 
AH the eight parts of speech, he taught to them, 
They now employ to trumpet his esteem. 
Magister pleas'd them well because 'twas he ; 
They say that bonus did with it agree. 
While they said amo, they the hint improve 
Him for to make the ohjcct of their love. 
No concord so inviolate they knew 
As to pay honors to their master due. 
With interjections they break off at last, 
But ah is all they use, loo, and alas .'" 



■ He lived and to vast age no illness knew ; 
Till Time's scythe, waiting for him, rusty grew. 
He lived and wrought ; his labors were immense ; 
But ne'er declined to jrretei-pcrfect tense." 



323 

No. VL 

JOHN WINTHROP, OF CONNECTICUT. 

I ASK pardon, not of the reader, but of the author, for transferring 
to these pages Mr. Bancroft's admirable picture of the younger Win- 
throp. 

" In the younger Winthrop, the qualities of human excellence 
were mingled in such happy proportions, that, while he always wore 
an air of contentment, no enterprise in which he engaged seemed 
too lofty for his powers. Even as a child, he had been the pride of 
his father's house ; he had received the best instruction which Cam- 
bridge and Dublin could afford ; and had perfected his education by 
visiting, in part at least, in the public service, not Holland and 
France only, in the days of Prince Maurice and Richelieu, but Ven- 
ice and Constantinople. From boyhood his manners had been spot- 
less ; and the purity of his soul added luster and beauty to the gifts 
of nature and industry ; as he traveled through Europe, he sought 
the society of men eminent for learning. Returning to England in 
the bloom of life, with every promise of preferment which genius, 
gentleness of temper, and influence at court, could inspire, he pre- 
ferred to follow his father to the new world ; regarding ' diversities 
of countries but as so many inns,' alike conducting to * the jour- 
ney's end.' When his father, the father of Massachusetts, became 
impoverished by his expenses in planting the colony, the pious son, 
unsolicited and without recompense, relinquished his large inherit- 
ance, that ' it might be spent in furthering the great work' in Mas- 
sachusetts; himself, single-handed and without wealth, engaging 
in the enterprise of planting Connecticut. Care for posterity seemed 
the motive to his actions. His vast and elevated mind had, more- 
over, that largeness, that he respected learning, and virtue, and ge- 
nius, in whatever sect they might be found. No narrow bigotry lim- 
ited his affections or his esteem ; and when Quakers had become the 
objects of persecution, he was earnest and unremitting in argument 
and entreaty, to prevent the effusion of blood. Master over his own 
mind, he never regretted the brilliant prospects he had resigned, nor 
complained of the comparative solitude of New London; a large li- 
brary furnished employment to his mind ; the study of nature, accor- 
ding to the principles of the philosophy of Bacon, was his delight ; for 
' he had a gift in understanding and art;' and his home was endeared 



324 

by a happy marriage, and ' many sweet children.' His knowledge of 
human nature was as remarkable as his virtues. He never attempted 
impracticable things ; but, understanding the springs of action, and 
the principles that control affairs, he calmly and noiselessly succeeded 
in all that he undertook. The new world was full of his praises ; 
Puritans, and Quakers, and the freemen of Rhode Island, were alike 
his eulogists ; the Dutch at New York, not less than all New Eng- 
land, had confidence in his integrity ; Clarendon and Milton, New- 
ton and Robert Boyle, became his correspondents. If he had faults, 
they are forgotten. In history he appears, by unanimous testimony, 
from early life, without a blemish ; and it is the beautiful testimony 
of his own father, that ' God gave him favor in the eyes of all with 
whom he had to do.' In his interview with Charles II., there is rea- 
son to believe, he was able to inspire that naturally benevolent mon- 
arch with curiosity ; perhaps he amused him with accounts of In- 
dian warfare, and descriptions of the marvels of a virgin world. A 
favorable recollection of Charles I., who had been a friend to his 
father's father, and who gave to his family an hereditary claim on 
the Stuarts, was effectually revived. His personal merits, sympathy 
for his family, his exertions, the petition of the colony, and, as I be- 
lieve, the real good will of Clarendon, — for we must not reject all 
faith in generous feeling, — easily prevailed to obtain for Connecti- 
cut an ample patent. The courtiers of King Charles, who themselves 
had an eye to possessions in America, suggested no limitations ; 
and perhaps it was believed, that Connecticut would serve to bal- 
ance the power of Massachusetts. 

" The charter, disregarding the hesitancy of New Haven, the 
rights of the colony of New Belgium, and the claims of Spain on 
the Pacific, connected New Haven with Hartford in one colony, of 
which the limits were extended from the Narragansett River to the 
Pacific Ocean. How strange is the connection of events ! Win- 
throp not only secured to his state a peaceful century of colonial ex- 
istence, but prepared the claim for western lands. Under his wise 
direction, the careless benevolence of Charles II. provided in ad- 
vance the school fund of Connecticut. 

" With regard to powers of government, the charter was still more 
extraordinary. It conferred on the colonists unqualified power to 
govern themselves. They were allowed to elect all their own offi- 
cers, to enact their own laws, to administer justice without appeals 
to England, to inflict punishments, to confer pardons, and in a word, 
to exercise every power, deliberative and active. The king, far 



325 

from reserving a negative on the acts of the colony, did not even re- 
quire that the laws should be transmitted for his inspection ; and no 
provision was made for the interference of the English government 
in any event whatever. Connecticut was independent except in 
name. Charles II. and Clarendon thought they had created a close 
corporation, and they had really sanctioned a democracy. To the 
younger Winthrop, probably because he had preserved a loyal spirit 
in Connecticut, Charles II. had written, ' the world shall take no- 
tice of the sense I have of your kindness, and how great an instru- 
ment you have been in promoting the happiness of your country ;' 
and the disinterested man asked favors only for the community of 
which he was a member. 

" After his successful negotiations, and efficient concert in found- 
ing the Royal Society, Winthrop returned to America, bringing with 
him a name which England honored, and which his country should 
never forget, and resumed his tranquil life in rural retirement. The 
amalgamation of the two colonies could not be effected without col- 
lision ; and New Haven had been unwilling to merge itself in the 
larger colony ; the wise moderation of Winthrop was able to recon- 
cile the jarrings, and blend the interests of the united colonies. The 
universal approbation of Connecticut followed him throughout all 
the remainder of his life; for twice seven years he continued to be 
annually elected to the office of her chief magistrate." 

Governor Winthrop's first and principal residence in Connecticut, 
was at Pequot, afterwards called New London. Great efforts were 
made by Mr. Davenport and Gov. Eaton, to induce him to fix his 
residence in New Haven. In October, 1654, the General Court of 
the colony requested the Governor to write to Mr. Winthrop in the 
name of the Court, " inviting him to come and live at New Haven if 
he do remove from Pequot." For a year or more, soon afterwards, he 
resided here, in the house which had been Capt. Malbon's, on the 
west side of State street, near where it is now intersected by Court 
street. The town bought that house for his accommodation, offering 
it to him as a gratuity. He refused to come under any such obliga- 
tion as would be imposed by his acceptance of such a gift. Ac- 
cordingly he bought of the town the house and lot, " with all the ac- 
commodations belonging thereto,"* for =€100, to be paid according 
to the tenor of the following engagement. 

* As illustrating the value of real estate in New Haven at that time, it is 
worth while to observe how much was sold for £100. The house veas one 
of the best in the town, distinguished as it was for " fair and stately houses." 



326 

" These are to testify that I do owe and am indebted to the towns- 
men of New Haven, selected by the said town for the carrying on 
the prudential affairs of the same, the full sum of one hundred 
pounds for the house wherein I now live with the lands to it, to be 
paid in goats, the one half at any time between this or October next, 
upon Fisher's Island, whensoever they shall send a vessel to demand 
and carry away the same, and the other half the next summer at the 
same place, when they shall likewise send a vessel to demand and 
fetch them away, any time before that winter, to be delivered by my 
servants there. AVitness my hand : July 7th, 1657. 

" John Winthrop. 

" Witness, Francis Newman." 

Mr. Winthrop appears not have resided here longer than two 
years. The house was bought back by the town in 1659 ; and the 
use of it was given to Gov. Newman for his lifetime, and that of his 
wife if she should survive him. 

One reason for the great zeal of the town to induce Mr. Winthrop 
to reside here, was his medical knowledge and skill. See Prof 
Knight's Introductory Lecture ; which contains the history of the 
medical profession in New Haven.* 



The lot extended in front about fourteen rods, as measured on Col. Lyon's 
map, and in depth half way to Church street. Beside the house and lot, 
there was the housing upon it," (which must have included stable, &c.,) 
and " all the accommodations belonging thereunto, which in the book where 
men's accommodations are entered, appear to be thirty five acres of the first 
division within the two miles, and six and twenty rods ; thirty four acres of 
meadow, and a half; one hundred and seventy eight acres of the second divi- 
sion ; and twenty acres and a quarter, sixteen rods, in tlie Neck." 

* Mr. Thomas Pell, who in Dr. Knight's Lecture is mentioned as probably 
a physician, and as going away in 1650, was surgeon to the Saybrook Fort, 
under Lyon Gardner, in 1636, and was sent in that capacity with Capt. Un- 
derbill to the Pequot war in 1637. (Ill, Mass. Hist. Coll. Ill, 149.) His 
first appearance on the New Haven records is in Sept- 1642 ; but it is doubt- 
ful whether he was al that time residing here. His name is not among the 
freemen or the planters, or among those who took the oath of fidelity to the 
jurisdiction. In 1647, he appears again, and soon after married the widow 
of Francis Brewster, a lady who was rather an untoward subject of the juris- 
diction. After considerable difficulty about the payment of a fine which had 
been imposed upon his wife before the marriage, and for which the court 
held him responsible after the marriage, he was Called upon to take the oath 
of fidelity, which he refused to do. His going away was a few months after- 
wards. He seems to have removed from this place to Fairfield. His wife 
and her daughters were witnesses in the case of Staplies against Ludlow. 
See Kingsley, 101. 



327 
No. VIT. 

EDWARD tench's WILL AND INVENTORY. 

The records in the Probate office begin in the year 1647. But in 
the town clerk's office I find a solitary record of a will and invento- 
ry, dated — before New Haven had an English name — in Feb. 1639- 
40. The manner and provisions of the will, as well as its being 
probably the first will ever written in New Haven, make it worth 
publishing. I subjoin to the will, the first part of the inventory, 
which exhibits the titles of all the books which made up the library 
of one of the planters of New Haven. 

The record is somewhat mutilated by time. The reader will see 
that the hiatus is filled up with such words as seem to be demanded 
by the context. 

" I, Edward Tench, planter in Quinnypiocke, being at present 
weak in body, but of perfect memory, and having my dear wife, Sa- 
rah Tench, lying in the house with me, dangerously sick, and near 
to death by a consumption, so that in the judgment of man, she 
draweth near her change ; do make and ordain this my last will 
and testament, in manner and form following. First, I commit my 
spirit, &c. — and my body to be buried in a comely and decent man- 
ner, according to the course of this place ; — and my debts first paid, 
funeral expenses discharged, and certain small legacies, part of 
which are given by my wife, and by me now confirmed, and part by 
myself now added, all contained in a note and schedule hereunto 
annexed, T give and bequeath to my forenamed dear wife, the one 
half of the remainder of my whole estate, whether it be here or in 
old England, if God please to recover her and preserve her life. 
The other half of my estate, I give and bequeath to my only son, 
Nathaniel Tench, now about five years of age, desiring my said 
wife, to whom I commit liim, if God spares her life, to be careful in 
his education, and to improve his portion for him, till he attain the 
full age of one and twenty years. But if it shall please God, by 
death, to take away my dear wife before me, it is my will and mind, 
and I freely give and bequeath to my forenamed son, Nathaniel 
Tench, my whole estate ; my debts and former legacies being first 
paid, and fimerals discharged ; and of this my last Vt'Wl and Testa- 



328 

iiient, I make my said son, Nathaniel Tench, the [executor. And] 
in case my said wife should die before [me, I do entrust and com- 
mit] my son, both for his education, and for the ordering and im- 
proving his portion and estate, till he attain and accomplish the 
full age of one and twenty years, to the wisdom and care of the 
Church of Christ, gathered and settled at Quinnypiocke, whereunto 
Mr. Davenport is pastor ; upon whose love and faithfulness, in ac- 
cepting and managing this my desire, I quietly rest, with assurance 
and satisfaction to my spirit. So that if my wife should die, and 
her sister come over into these parts, and should desire to take my 
son back into old England, yet my express will and mind is, that he 
return not, but continue with and be brought up by the forenamed 
Church of Christ. And lastly, if it please God by death to take my 
son out of this world before he has attained the full age of one and 
twenty years ; then my will is, and I do hereby give and bequeath 
the one half of my estate to the treasury of the Church, to whose 
care T have entrusted my son, to be by them disposed of as they 
shall see good. And the other half of my estate, I hereby give and 
bequeath to my brother Francis Tench, and to his children. And I 
hereby revoke all former wills, testaments and devises by me here- 
tofore made. And do order, declare, and appoint that this and no 
other, nor otherwise, shall be, and remain in force, as my last will 
and testament. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name, this 
13th day of February, 1639 [1640.] Edward Tench. 

" In the presence of us, Henry Brownii^g, Wm. James, Thos. 
Fugill." 

" The inventory of all the goods and chattels of Edward Tench 
deceased, late planter of Quinnypiocke, taken by Thom. Gregson, 
Robert Newman, and Matthew Gilbert, the 19th Feb. 1639. 

2 Books of Martyrs, - - - - 
Calvin on Job, ----- 

1 Concordance, - - - - - 

The Country Justice, - - - - 

Dodd on the Commandments, 

1 Book of Greenham's Works, 

1 Geneva Bible with Notes, - - - 

1 Bible, Roman letter, . - - 



£ 


.^. 


rl. 


3 


00 


00 




6 


00 




lo 


00 




3 


00 




3 00 




10 


00 




10 00 




15 


00 



329 



3 small Bibles, . - - - - 
Perkins on the Galatians, ... 
Symons on the deserted soul, 
Perkins' Principles, . - - - 

Bell on Faith, 

Burrongh Book, . . . - 

The Expert Midwife, .... 

Markhani's Husbandry, . . - 

Byfield's Marrow of the Oracles, 
Perkins' How to live well, . - - 
1 old book, Dodd on the Commandments, 
The plain man's pathway to Heaven, 
Government of cattle, . - - . 
Watcher's Remembrance, - - - 
The Saints' Cordials, - - - - 

Sibbs' Canticles, - - - - . 

On Hosea, .-.--- 
Light from Heaven, . - - - 
5 books of Dr. Sibbs, - . - - 
Excellency of the Gospel, ... 
Promises, ------ 

Comforts, ------ 

Christ's Exaltation, - - - - 

Hidden Secrets, - - - - - 

Dr. Preston's new covenant, 
second volume, 
" third volume, 

The Soul's Conflict, - . . - 
Mr. Culverwell's Treatise of Faith, 
Attributes, - - - - . 

Goodwin's Works, - . - . , 

Dyke on the Sacraments, . - - . 
Saints' Legacies, ..... 

Mark's Salutations, - - - - 

Sibbs' Philippians, - - - _ , 

Delights with Closets, - - - - 

Mr. Caples' book, - - - - , 

Charitable Physician, - - - - , 

1 small Bible, - - - - . 

The entire inventory amounted to .£409 3s. (id. 

42 



£ 5. d. 

18 00 


3 


00 


2 


6 


5 


00 


4 00 


1 


6 


1 


6 


3 00 


2 00 


2 00 


1 


00 


1 


00 


o 


00 


1 


00 




6 


4 


6 


4 


6 


4 


8 


3 


6 


2 00 


1 


6 


1 


3 


1 


00 


1 


00 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


3 00 


2 


00 


3 


6 


5 


00 


3 00 


1 


00 


1 


00 


4 00 


1 


00 


1 


2 


1 


00 


5 00" 



330 



No. VIII. 



TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS. 



There are two sorts of people who habitually represent the New 
England fathers as having treated the Indians with great injustice. 

First, we have the sentimentalists, to whom the Indian is an ob- 
ject of poetic interest. They feel that the wigwam by a waterfall 
was a far more romantic sight than a five story cotton mill on the same 
spot. They would rather see upon the Connecticut a rude canoe dug 
out of a log, by painful blows of a stone hatchet, than the most majes- 
tic steamboat. And to their mind's eye a "feather-cinctured chief," 
like Sassacus, is a much more imposing figure than Roger Sherman 
or Oliver Ellsworth. The melancholy fate of the wild tribes, disap- 
pearing with the forests they once inhabited, and leaving the graves 
of their fathers to be turned up by the white man's ploughshare, 
aflfects these sentimental readers or makers of poetry so deeply, that 
they cannot but take it for granted that the poor Indian was the vic- 
tim of Puritan oppression. 

Secondly, we have those who think to silence all remonstrance 
and argument against some recent proceedings in respect to the In- 
dians, by asking, Where are the Indians of New England ; and who 
have apolitical interest to maintain by making themselves and others 
believe that there is no precedent, and therefore no warrant for jus- 
tice in dealing with the native proprietors of the soil. 

I am very far from intimating that there were no particular in- 
stances of Vv'rong on the part of white men in New England towards 
the aboriginal inhabitants; or that the colonial governments did not 
sometimes err through fear or indignation, in their judgment of what 
was right, especially in times of war. But there is no hazard in as- 
serting, that the general course of the policy adopted by our fathers 
in respect to the Indians, was characterized by justice and by kind- 
ness. The right of the Indians to the soil was admitted and re- 
spected. Patents and charters from the king were never considered 
good against the rights of the natives. Let any man demonstrate if 
he can, that in Connecticut a single rood of land was ever acquired 
of the Indians otherwise than by fair purchase, except what was con- 
quered from the Pequots, in a war as righteous as ever was waged. 



331 

How the Indians were treated by the planters of the New Haven 
colony, appears on the face of the records, of which I propose to give 
some specimens, introducing first one passage from Winthrop, (H, 
C2,) which belongs to the history of New Haven. 

"It is observable," says Winthrop in March, 1642, "how the 
Lord doth honor his people and justify their ways even before the 
heathen, when their proceedings are true and just, as appears by 
this instance. Those at New Haven, intending a plantation at Del- 
aware, sent some men to purchase a large portion of land of the In- 
dians there, but they refused to deal with them. It so fell out, that 
a Pequot sachem (being fled his country in our war with them, and 
having seated himself with his company upon that river ever since) 
was accidentally there at that time. He, taking notice of the En- 
glish and their desire, persuaded the other sachem to deal- with them, 
and told him, that howsoever they had killed his countrymen and 
driven them out, yet they were honest men, and had just cause to 
do as they did, for the Pequots had done them wrong, and refused 
to give such reasonable satisfaction as was demanded of them. 
Whereupon the sachem entertained them, and let them have what 
land they desired." 

The most ancient record in existence at New Haven is, as it 
ought to be, the record of two treaties with the aboriginal propri- 
etors, — by which the soil was purchased, and the relations thence- 
forward to subsist between the Indians and the English, were dis- 
tinctly defined. The substance of these treaties is given by Trum- 
bull, (I, 68,) but to many readers, an original document has an in- 
terest and a value far above the most perfect abstract. I therefore 
give these documents, though one is a little mutilated. 

" Articles of agreement between Theophilus Eaton and John 
Davenport and others, English planters at Q,uinopiocke, on the one 
party, and Momaugin the Indian sachem of duinopiocke, and Sug- 
cogisin, Quesaquauch, Caroughood, Wesaucucke, and others of 
his council on the other party, — made and concluded, the 24th of 
November, 1638, Thomas Stanton being interpreter. 

"First, That he, the said sachem, his council and company, do 
jointly profess, affirm and covenant, that the said Momaugin is the 
sole sachem of Quinopiocke, and hath an absolute and independent 
power to give, alien, dispose or sell all or any part of the lands in 
duinopiocke ; and that though he have a son now absent, yet neither 
his said son, nor any other person whatsoever, hath any right, title 



332 

or interest in any part of the said lands, so that whatsoever he the 
forenamed sachem, his council, and the rest of the Indians present, 
do and conclude, shall stand firm and inviolable against all claims 
and persons, whatsoever. 

"Secondly, The said sachem, his council and company, (among 
which there was a squaw sachem, called Shampishuh, sister to the 
sachem, who either had or pretended some interest in some part of 
the land,) remembering and acknowledging the heavy taxes and 
imminent dangers which they lately felt and feared from the Pequots, 
Mohawks and other Indians, in regard of which they durst not stay 
in their country, but were forced to flee, and seek shelter among the 
English at Connecticut; and observing the safety and ease that 
other Indians enjoy near the English, of which benefits they have had 
a comfortable taste already, since the English began to build and 
plant at Quinopiocke, which with all thankfulness they now ac- 
knowledged ; they jointly and severally gave and yielded up all right, 
title and interest to all the land, rivers and ponds, trees, with all the 
liberties and appurtenances belonging to the same, in Q,uinopiocke, 
to the utmost of their bounds, east, west, north, south, unto The- 
ophilus Eaton, John Davenport and others, the present English plan- 
ters there, and to their heirs and assigns forever, desiring from the 
said English planters, to receive such a portion of ground on the 
east side of the harbor, towards the fort at the mouth of the river of 
Connecticut, as might be sufficient for them, being but few in num- 
ber, to plant in ; and yet, within these limits to be hereafter assigned 
to them, they did covenant and freely yield up unto the said English, 
all the meadow ground lying therein, with full liberty to choose and 
cut down what timber they please for any use whatsoever, without 
any question, license, or consent to be asked from them, the said 
Indians; and if after their portion and place be limited, and set out 
by the English as above, they the said Indians, shall desire to re- 
move to any other place within Quinopiocke bounds, but without the 
limits assigned them, that they do it not without leave, neither set- 
ting up any wigwam, nor breaking up any ground to plant corn, till 
first it be set out and appointed by the forenamed English planters 
for them. 

" Thirdly, The said sachem and his council and company, desir- 
ing liberty to hunt and fish, within the bounds of Quinopiocke, now 
given and granted to the English, as before, do [hereby] jointly cov- 
enant and bind themselves to set no traps near any place where the 



333 

whether horses, oxen, kine, calves, sheep, 



goats, hogs or any such 



* * * * 



any fish out of any wear belonging to any English, nor to do any 
thing near any such wear so as to * * or affright away any fish to 
the prejudice of such wear or wears ; and that upon discovery of any 
inconveniency growing to the English by the Indians disorderly 
hunting, their hunting shall be regulated and limited for the preven- 
ting of any inconvenience, and yet with as little damage to the In- 
dians in their hunting as may be. 

" Fourthly, The said sachem, his council and company, do hereby 
covenant and bind themselves that none of them shall henceforth 
hanker* about any of the English houses at anytime when the Eng- 
lish use to meet about the public worship of God ; nor on the Lord's 
day henceforward be seen, within the compass of the English town, 
bearing any burthens or offering to truck with the English for any 
commodity whatsoever; and that none of them henceforward with- 
out leave, open any latch belonging to any Englishman's door, nor 
stay in any English house after warning that he should leave the 
same, nor do any violence, wrong or injury to the persons of the Eng- 
lish, whether man, woman, or child, upon any pretence whatsoever; 
and if the English of this plantation, by themselves or cattle, do any 
wrong or damage to the Indians, upon complaint, just recompense 

* The word hanker is used here in a sense not set down by Webster. In 
England, it is still used, colloquially, with the same meaning. Richardson 
gives no authority for such a use. Elsewhere in the records, the word is used 
in the same sense. June 7th, 1659, " Sam. Clarke," was brought before the 
court "for not attending the training," and the opportunity was improved to 
question him touciiing some " other miscarriages." " The governor told him 
thai he had heard with grief what he had heard concerning him, whereby it 
appeared that lie was a lewd young man." It was charged against him that 
he " goeth forth" on the evening after tlie Sabbath, " without the consent of 
the governor of the family, and is found hankering about men's gates to draw 
out company to him. Sam. confessed that he did sometimes go out in the 
evening after the Sabbath, but withal said that he went upon business when 
he did go forili. He was asked what business he had when he was hanker- 
ing at Roger Allen's gate," &c. 

This I suppose may pass for a genuine piece of the " blue laws." It may 
therefore be proper to add that on account of the absence of some " wiio 
could speak to the clearing of the case," "the whole business was respited 
till the next court ; and he [was] wished to consider in the mean time what 
the Scripture saith, ' He that being often reproved,' " itc. I cannot find 
that the business was ever called up again. 



334 

shall be made by the English; — and that none of them henceforward 
use or take any Englishman's boat or canoe of what kind soever, 
from the place where it was fastened or laid, without leave from the 
owner first had and obtained ; nor that they come into the English 
town with bows and arrows, or any other weapons whatsoever, in 
number above six Indians so armed at a time. 

Fifthly, The said sachem, his council and company, do truly cov- 
enant and bind themselves, that if any of them shall hereafter kill or 
hurt any English cattle of what sort soever, though casually or neg- 
ligently, they shall give full satisfaction for the loss or damage, as the 
English shall judge equal; but if any of them, for any respect, wil- 
fully do kill or hurt any of the English cattle, upon proof, they shall 
pay the double value. And if at any time, any of them find any of 
the English cattle straying or lost in the woods, they shall bring them 
back to the English plantation, and a moderate price or recompense 
shall be allowed for their pains; provided, if it can be proved that 
any of them drove away any of the English cattle, wheresover they 
find them, farther from the English plantation to make an * * or 
advantage or recompense for his pains finding or bringing them 
back, they shall in any such case pay damages for such dealings. 

" Sixthly, The number of the Quinopiocke Indians, men, or 
youths grown to stature fit for service, being forty seven at present, 
they do covenant and bind themselves not to receive or admit any 
other Indians amongst them without leave first had and obtained 
from the English : and that they will not at any time hereafter en- 
tertain or harbor any that are enemies to the English, but will pres- 
ently apprehend such and deliver them to the English ; and if they 
know or hear of any plot by the Indians or others against the Eng- 
lish, they will forthwith discover and make the same known to them, 
and in case they do not, to be accounted as parties in the plot, and 
to be proceeded against as such. 

" Lastly, The said sachem, his council and company, do hereby 
promise truly and carefully to observe and keep all and every one 
of these articles of agreement ; and if any of them offend in any of 
the premises, they jointly hereby subject and submit such offender 
or offenders, to the consideration, censure and punishment of the 
English magistrate, or officers appointed among them for govern- 
ment, without expecting that the English should first advise with 
them about it, yet in any such case of punishment, if the said sa- 
chem shall desire to know the reason and equity of such proceedings, 
he shall be informed of the same. 



335 

"The former article being read and interpreted to them, they by 
way of exposition desired that in the sixth article it might be added. 
That if any of the English cattle be killed or hurt casually or negli- 
gently, and proof be made it was done by some of the Q,uinopiocke 
Indians, they will make satisfaction ; and if done by any other In- 
dians in their sight, if they do not discover it and (if able to) bring 
the offender to the English, they will be accounted and dealt with 
as guilty. 

" In consideration of all which, they desire from the English that 
if at any time hereafter they be affrighted in their dwellings assigned 
by the English unto them as before, they may repair to the English 
plantation for shelter ; and that the English will there in a just cause, 
endeavor to defend them from wrong. But in any quarrel or wars 
which they shall undertake or have with other Indians upon any oc- 
casion whatsoever, they will manage their affairs by themselves with- 
out expecting any aid from the English. 

" And the English planters before mentioned, accepting and grant- 
ing according to the tenor of the premises, do further of their own 
accord, by way of free and thankful retribution, give unto the said 
sachem, council and company of the Quinopiocke Indians, twelve 
coats of English trucking cloth, twelve alchemy spoons, twelve 
hatcliets, twelve hoes, two dozen of knives, twelve porringers, and 
four cases of French knives and scissors. All which being thank- 
fully accepted by the aforesaid, and the agreements in all points per- 
fected ; for ratification and full confirmation of the same, the sa- 
chem, his council and sister, to these presents have set to their hands 
or marks, the day and year above written. 

" MoMAUGiN, — his mark. 

" SuGcoGisiN, — his mark. 

" Q,UESAQUAusH, — his mark. 

" Carroughood, — his mark. 

" Weesaucuck, — his mark. 

" Shaumpishuh, — her mark.* 

* Copies of these Indian marks may be seen in Barber's Hist, and Antiq. of 
New Haven, 27. The first is a rude resemblance of a bow ; the second of 
a fish-hook. The third is a horizontal line, neither straight nor of any curve 
known to the mathematicians. The fourth is a small blot. The fifth may be 
imagined to stand for a war-club. And the squaw's mark is perhaps as much 
like a tobacco pipe, as the cloud which Hamlet showed to Polonius was 
" like a whale." 



336 

" I, Thomas Stanton, being interpreter in this treaty, do hereby 
profess in the presence of God, that I have fully acquainted the In- 
dians with the substance of every article, and truly returned their 
answer and consent to the same, according to the tenor of the fore- 
going writing, the truth of which, if lawfully called, I shall readily 
confirm by my oath at any time. Thomas Stanton." 

" Articles of agreement betwixt Theophilus Eaton, John Daven- 
port, and sundry other English planters at Quinnypiock on the one 
part, and Mantowese, son of an Indian sachem, living at Mattabez- 
eck, and nephew to Sequin, on the other part, made and concluded 
the llth day of December, 1638. 

" First, the said Mantowese in presence and with allowance of 
Sawseunck, an Indian which came in company with him, doth pro- 
fess, affirm and covenant to and with the said Theophilus Eaton, 
John Davenport, and others, above, that the land on both sides the 
river of Quinnypiock, from the northerly bounds of the land lately 
purchased by the said English of the Quinnypiock Indians, namely 
from the pond in the great meadow, about two miles above the great 
hill, to the head of the river at the great plain toward the plantations 
settled by the English upon the river of Q,uintecutt, southerly, which 
is about ten miles in length from north to south ; the bounds of 
which land run also eight miles easterly from the river of Quinnypi- 
ock towards the river of Quinticutt, and five miles westerly towards 
Hudson's river, — doth truly and solely belong to him the said Man- 
towese, in right of his deceased mother, to whom the said land did 
appertain, and from whom it justly descends upon him as his in- 
heritance, so that he hath an absolute and independent power to give, 
alien, dispose, or sell all, or any part of the said land as he shall think 
good ; and that neither his said father, nor any other person whatso- 
ever, have any right, title, or interest in any part of the land descri- 
bed and limited as above, whereby he or any other may hereafter 
justly question what the said Mantowese now doth, or lay any claim 
to any part of the said land now disposed of by him. 

" Secondly, the said Mantowese being fully acquainted with the 
agreements lately passed betwixt the said English planters and the 
Sachem of Quinnypiock, his council and company, did freely of 
his own accord, upon full and serious deliberation, give, grant, and 
yield up, all his right, title, and interest, to all the land mentioned 
and bounded as above, with all the rivers, ponds, trees, and all liber- 



337 

ties and appurtenances whatsoever, belonging to the same, to the 
said Theophilus Eaton, John Davenport, and other English planters 
at Quinnypiock, and to their heirs and assigns forever, desiring from 
them, the said English planters, to receive such a small portion of 
land by the river's side about two miles beyond the tree over the 
river in the passage from hence towards the towns at Quintecutt, as 
may be suthcient for his small company being but ten men in num- 
ber, besides women and children, which portion of land they desire 
may hereafter, upon a view, be assigned, appointed and limited unto 
them by the said English planters ; reserving also to himself and his 
forenamed company, liberty, in fit seasons and due manner, without 
prejudice to the English, to hunt and fish and kill beaver, yet therein 
also to be regulated by the said English, upon discovery of any 
annoyance, as the (iuinnypiock Indians are in that case. 

" Lastly, the said Theophilus Eaton, John Davenport, &/C. accep- 
ting from Mantowese this free gift of his land as above, do by way 
of thankful retribution give unto him eleven coats made of trucking 
cloth, and one coat for himself of English cloth, made up after the 
English manner, which being thankfully accepted by the said Man- 
towese, and the agreement in all points perfected ; for ratification 
and full confirmation of the same, Mantowese and Sawseunck have 
hereunto set their hands or marks, this day and year before written. 

"Mantowese, — his mark. 

" Saavseunck, — his mark.* 
" I, John Clarke, being interpreter in this treaty, do hereby prafess 
in the presence of God, that I have fully acquainted the Indians with 
the substance of every article, to the which they have freely agreed ; 
that is to say, that Mantowese have given to Mr. Davenport and Mr. 
Eaton all his land which he had by his deceased mother, which he 
saith is from the head of the great plain to the pond, which he pro- 
fess to be his, and promise to make it good to our English ; and for 
this he is satisfied with twelve coats; only reserve a piece of land by 
the river for his men, which are ten, and many squaws, to plant in ; 
and when our cows come there, what harm their dogs do to our cattle, 
they will satisfy for, and we for what harm our hogs do to them in 
corn ; and as for hunting and fishing, they are acquainted, and do 

* Copies of these marks arc also in Barber. The first is a bow and arrow ; 
the second a hatchet. The most ancient emblems of heraldry, probably Jiad 
an origin not more dignified. 

43 



338 

freely consent to them, as their mark witness, — the truth of which, 
if lawfully called, I shall readily confirm by my oath at any time: 

" Per me, John Clarke.* 
" We, Robert Coggswell, Roger Knapp, and James Love, do 
hereby renounce all right to any and every part of the forementioned 
land. Witness our hands hereunto. 

" Robert Coggswell, 

"James Love, 

"Roger Knapp, — his mark." 
These two treaties define, with much exactness, the relations 
which the Indians were to sustain to the government of the New 
Haven colony. By the stipulations thus mutually agreed upon, the 
Indians inhabiting this soil were taken under the protection, and, in 
a limited sense, under the government of the English. Yet they re- 
tained all the land which they needed for planting ; and their liberty 
to roam through the woods in their hunting, and to vex the streams 
with their fishing, was restrained only by the obligation not to inter- 
fere with the corn fields, the pastures, and the fisheries of the Eng- 
lish. What the Indians retained after the treaty, was worth more 
to them than what they had before the treaty. The consideration 
which chiefly moved them to the cession was not the coats, the 
knives, and the hatchets, the pewter spoons and porringers, but the 
safety and manifold advantages of having the English for their neigh- 
bors and protectors. 

That these treaties were ever violated by either party does not ap- 
pear in history. After New Haven had lost its independent exist- 
ence, these treaties still regulated the intercourse between the Eng- 
lish here and their dependear. neighbors. At the breaking out of 
Philip's war, after Eaton and Davenport were dead, the confidence 
of the Quinnipiacks in their protectors was unimpaired. See p. 163. 
The land ceded by these treaties seems to have been all that part 
of New Haven county which fronts upon the Sound, between Guil- 
ford on the east and Milford on the west, a tract upon which there 
are now about 25,000 people, the poorest of which has more physical 



* This interpreter seems to have been one of the first inhabitants of the 
colonv. The interpreter in the t'ormer treaty. Thomas Stanton, was in the 
fort at Saybrook at the beginning there. He afterwards settled in the Pequot 
country, I believe, and was for many years a sort of chief dragoman in all im- 
portant negotiations wi!h the Indians. 



339 

comforts, — not to speak of intellectual and moral differences, — than 
the richest of the Indians enjoyed in 1638. Yet upon that tract at 
the date of the treaties, there were subsisting in savage wretchedness 
not quite sixty men, and the largest estimate of women and children 
will not make the entire native population more than two hundred 
and fifty. For every Indian there are now a hundred white men. If 
this change has been effected righteously, it is something worth 
thinking of by those who go for " the greatest happiness of the great- 
est number." 

As to the actual treatment of the Indians under these treaties, I 
find that the limits of this article will not allow me to give all the 
illustrations which I had intended to give. Yet for the sake of im- 
partiality, I begin with the first record after the formation of the 
government in 1639, which describes the trial and condemnation of 
a Pequot captain. The proceedings on the part of the government, 
are of very questionable equity, and are strongly censured by Dr. 
Trumbull, I, 115. The record begins, Oct. 26th, 1639, the day 
after the first election of civil officers. 

" The civil aff'airs of the plantation being settled as before, by the 
providence of God, an Indian, called Messatunck, alias Nepaupuck, 
who had been formerly accused to have murderously shed the blood 
of some of the English, of his own accord, with a deer's head 
upon his back, came to Mr. Eaton's, where by warrant the marshal 
apprehended and pinioned him ; yet notwithstanding by the subtlety 
and treachery of another Indian, his companion, he had almost 
made ^n escape ; but by the same providence he was again taken, 
and delivered into the magistrate's power, and by his order safely 
kept in the stocks till he might be brought to a due trial. And the 
Indian who had attempted his escape was whipped by the marshal's 
deputy. 

"Oct. 28lh. — The Quillipieck Indian sagamore, with divers of 
his Indians with him, were examined before the magistrate and the 
deputies for this plantation, concerning Nepaupuck. They generally 
accused him to have murdered one or more of the English, and that 
he had cut off some of their hands, and had presented them to Sas- 
sacuse the Pequot sachem, boasting that he had killed them with 
his own hands. 

" Mewhebato, a Q,uillipieck Indian, kinsman to the aforesaid Ne- 
paupuck, coming at the same time to intercede for him, was examined 
what he knew concerning the murders charged upon the said Ne- 



340 

paupuck. At first he pretended ignorance ; but with a distracted 
countenance and a trembling manner, being admonished to speak 
the truth, he did acknowledge him guihy according to the charge 
the other Indians had before made. 

" All the other Indians withdrawing, Nepaupuck was brought in 
and examined. He confessed that Nepaupuck was guilty according 
to the tenor of the former charge, but denied that he was Nepau- 
puck. Mewhebato being brought in, after some signs of sorrow, 
charged him to his face that he had assisted the Pequots in murder- 
ing the English. This somewhat abated his spirit and boldness. 
But Wattoone, the son of Carrahoode, a councillor to the Quillipieck 
Indian sagamore, coming in, charged him more particularly that he 
had killed Abraham Finch, an Englishman, at Wethersfield ; and 
that he himself, the said Wattoone, stood upon the island at Wethers- 
field, and beheld him the said Nepaupuck, now present, acting the 
said murder.* Lastly, the Q,uillipieck sagamore and the rest of the 
Indians being called in, to his face afiirmed that he was Nepaupuck* 
and that he had murdered one or more of the English as before. 

" Nepaupuck being by the concurrence of the testimony con- 
vinced, he confessed that he was the man, namely Nepaupuck, and 
boasted he was a great captain, had murdered Abraham Finch, and 
had his hand in other English blood. He said he knew he must die, 
and was not afraid of it, but laid his neck to the mantle-tree of the 
chimney, desiring his head might be cut off, or that he might die in 
any other manner the English should appoint, only he said fire was 
God, and God was angry with him, therefore he would not fall into 
his hands. After this he was returned to the stocks, and as before, 
a watch appointed for his safe custody. 

" A General Court 29th of October, 1G39. — A genera! court be- 
ing assembled to proceed against the said Indian Nepaupuck, who 
was then brought to the bar, and being examined as before, at the 
first he denied that he was that Nepaupuck which had committed 
those murders wherewith he was charged. But when he saw that 
the Quillipieck sagamore and his Indians did again accuse him to 
his face, he confessed that he had his hand in the murder of Abra- 
ham Finch ; but yet he said there was a Mohauke of that name 
that had killed more than he. 

" Wattoone affirmed to his face that he, the said Nepaupuck, did 
not only kill Abraham Finch, but was one of them that killed the 



See Trumbull. I, 



341 

three men in the boat or shallop on Connecticut River ;* and that 
there was but one Nepaupuck, and this was he, and the same that 
took a child of Mr. Swain's at Wethersfield. Then the said Nepau- 
puck being asked if he would not confess he deserved to die, he an- 
swered it is wcrcgin.f 

" The court having had such pregnant proof, proceeded to pass 
sentence upon him according to the nature of the fact, and the rule 
in that case. He that sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be 
shed. Accordingly his head was cut off the next day, and pitched 
upon a pole in the market place." 

Several considerations naturally lead us to condemn this entire 
transaction, 

1. How was this Indian accountable to the courts of the New 
Haven plantation? He seems to have been a Pequot; and at the 
time when the alledged crimes were committed, the Pequots were 
an independent sovereignty. 

2. The murders were not committed within the bounds of the 
New Haven colony, nor upon subjects of this jurisdiction. They 
were committed a full year before the settlers of New Haven made 
their landing at Q,uinnipiack. It may therefore be said, that if the 
murderer was personally accountable to the English any where, he 
was accountable to the colony upon the Connecticut. 

3. Dr. Trumbull remarks that it is not according to the maxims 
of "this enlightened age, that the subjects of princes killing men by 
their orders, in war, ought to be treated as murderers." Nepaupuck 
was a savage warrior making war, after the fashion of the Pequots, 
against the English. Ought he to have been held personally ac- 
countable, after the war was ended, for his conduct as an enemy at 
the beginning of the war 1 

4. Dr. Trumbull also remarks on the barbarous ceremony of set- 
ting up the head of the decapitated offender on a pole, as " too 

^ Trumbull, I, 76. 

t Roger Williams (Key, 50) gives the word icunegln as signifying '• well 
or good ;" and from an observation of his, (ib. 96,} it appears that in the dif- 
fering dialects of neighboring tribes, n and r were interchanged. Anuvi, " a 
dog," in the Cowweset, became arum in the Q,uinnipiack. So in Eliot's 
Bible, Gen. 1, 10, '• God saw that it was good," lounnaumun God ne en wun- 
jjcgcn. In the epitaph on a Mohcgan sachem, who died in 1741, arc tlicse 
two lines, — 

" For courage bold, and things iccrhecgan 
He was the glory of Mohegan." 



342 

nearly symbolizing with the examples of uncivilized and pagan na- 
tions." The censure is undoubtedly just. The English may have 
deemed it necessary for the purpose of impressing upon the savages 
a sense of the sternness of English justice against murderers ; but 
in so judging they took counsel more of fear than of wisdom. 

On the other hand, while in my judgment the proceeding as a 
whole was unjustifiable, there are several considerations against con- 
demning it too harshly. 

1. It was the constant practice of the New England colonies, 
whenever a murder had been committed by the Indians, to de- 
mand of the sachems the surrender of the murderers for punish- 
ment, together with such other satisfaction as the nature of the 
case required. Upon the face of all their dealings with the Indians, 
the great law, " He that sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood 
be shed," stood prominent. Every other crime could be made the 
subject of treaty and compromise with the tribe, and could be settled 
without the visitation of English justice on the head of the individual 
perpetrator. But for the murder of man, woman, or child, belonging 
to the English, there was no expiation, no satisfaction, "no ransom," 
but in the surrender of the murderers for punishment. Looking at 
this part of their policy, disconnected from the individual case be- 
fore us, who will say that it was either unwise or unrighteous. The 
"inner light" in the bosom of the savage, more to be trusted, if we 
believe Fox and Bancroft,* than the "dead letter" of any "outward 
religion," justified the policy. Could any other policy have been so 
well calculated to teach those bloody barbarians the sacredness of 
human life 1 

2. In dealing with the Indians on the principle above mentioned, 
the New Englanders were not in the habit of inquiring where the 
murder was committed, — whether within the bounds of this colony, 
or of that, or of any. If a murder had been committed, that was 
enough. We may well ask. Was it not enough? Was there any 
injustice in insisting that the lives of the English, not only in their 
dwellings and on their planting grounds, but on the rivers and in the 
forests, should be inviolable ? Was there any injustice in demand- 
ing that the Indian who had any where imbrued his hands in Eng- 
lish blood, should be delivered up to English justice? I know that 
this is not the law which regulates in such cases the intercourse of 



* See Bancrofi, II, 334—352. 



343 

civilized governments ; but it was the Indian law of nations, revealed 
to the barbarians by their " inner light." 

3. In this particular instance, the murders were part of a series of 
atrocities for which Connecticut and Massachusetts had jointly made 
war upon the Pequots, and swept them from the country. Here was 
one of the actual perpetrators of those atrocities, who had survived 
the ruin of his nation. Because his nation had been swept away, 
was he, the bloody perpetrator of those hideous murders, to go un- 
punished ? Such, doubtless, was the reasoning by which the court 
was misled in the condemnation and punishment of Nepaupuck. 

4. It is also to be observed that the Indian, though by no means 
wanting in ingenuity, did not question at all the jurisdiction of the 
court or the equity of the proceedings. "Being asked if he would 
not confess he deserved to die, he answered, it is ivcregin." The 
law of God written upon his conscience told him that the punish- 
ment was just. The question is, whether it was justly inflicted, — 
a question that escaped his uninstructed sense of justice. 

This is the only instance of a questionable act in respect to the 
Indians, which I have found in the history of the New Haven col- 
ony. Every thing else in the records accords perfectly with the tes- 
timony of Hubbard, who ascribes the peace which the planters here 
enjoyed with their Indian neighbors, to " a due carefulness in doing 
justice to them upon all occasions against the English." 

Among the earliest regulations adopted in this colony respecting 
the Indians, were the orders that no individual should buy any land 
of the natives, unless specially authorized to do so ; and that none 
should furnish them "directly or indirectly with any ammunition 
whatsoever." To these was soon added a law strictly prohibiting 
the selling or giving of any intoxicating drink to Indians, — a law 
often violated by the unthinking good nature of individuals, but al- 
ways put in force when an Indian was found intoxicated. 

The first instance of the appearance of a New Haven Indian in 
court as an offender, is on the 1st of July, 1646. "Pawquash, a 
Quillipiock Indian, was first complained of for leaving open the 
oystershell-field gate, and damage being done thereby, refused to 
give any satisfaction. Secondly, he about four years since, came 
into Mr. Crane's house when they were blessing God in the name of 
Jesus Christ ; and that he then did blasphemously say, that Jesus 
Christ was mattamoy and naught, and his bones rotten, and spake 
of an Indian in Mantoise's plantation ascended into heaven. Which 



344 

was witnessed by Mr. Crane, Mrs. Crane, Mrs. Ling, Wm. Holt, 
Goodvvife Camp. The sentence of the court was that he should be 
severely whipped for his scorning at our worshipping God, and blas- 
pheming the name of our Lord Jesus ; and informed him that if he 
should do so hereafter, or [if] now it had been against the light he 
now has, it would hazard his life. And for the damage by means of 
the gate being left open, he was to pay 5s to Thomas Knowles." 

In 1G49, the united colonies were greatly alarmed by the plotting 
of the Narragansetts and Nehantics with the Mohawks. The con- 
gress of commissioners gave directions that the colonies should be 
put in readiness for any emergency. Trumbull, I, 180. Accord- 
ingly the records here at that time were filled with orders putting 
the town in a state of defense, and raising men and stores for the 
public service. Yet the only allusion to the Indians of this neighbor- 
hood is, " It was thought fit that when men shall go forth against the 
Indians, that our Indians be sent for, and warned not to come to or 
about the town, but upon their peril." The sight of savages in the 
town at such a time might create alarm, and result in disturbance. 

In the following record of an action of assault and battery, we have 
an illustration of the confidence with which the Indians looked to 
the courts of New Haven for protection. 

" June 25th, 1650. — A seaman that went in Michael Taynter's 
vessel, was brought before the governor and accused by Wash, an 
Indian, that he having hired him to show him the way to Totoket, 
and agreed for \2d ; when he was upon the way, Wash asked him 
for his money; the man gave him 10(7, lack two wampum. Wash 
said he must have Vld, else he would not go ; whereupon the seaman 
took him by the arm, pulled him, and threw him down, and stamped 
upon him, and in striving broke his arm. The seaman said he agreed 
with him for lOrf, and gave him so much; but Wash would not go, 
and struck him first ; and he cannot tell that he broke his arm, for it 
was sore before. Whereupon Mr. Besthup and Mr. Augur, two 
surgeons, being desired to give their advice, said, to their best appre- 
hension, the arm was broken now, though by reason of an old sore, 
whereby the bone might be infected, might cause it the more easily 
to break. The court was called, but none came to the governor but 
Mr. Crane, Mr. Gibbard, and Francis Newman. They would have 
persuaded Wash to have taken some wampum for satisfaction, but 
he would not hear of it, but said he desired it might be healed at the 
man's charge. Whereupon the court desired Mr. Besthup to do the 



345 

best he could to heal it, and promised him satisfaction, and for the 
present sent the man to prison. But quickly after, Philip Leeke, 
John Jones, and Edward Camp, became his bail, and bound them- 
selves in a bond of ^10, that upon a month's warning left with Philip 
Leeke, the man should make his appearance here before authority. 
And David Sellevant and Robert Lord became sureties, and engaged 
to bear them harmless." 

In 1G53, there was another general alarm throughout New Eng- 
land, and great expectation of a war not only with the Narragansetts 
and their confederates, but also with the Dutch. A town meeting 
was held on the 2Ist of March. "Thomas Jeffery was chosen ser- 
geant for this town in the room of Sergeant Andrews," who " by 
reason of his weakness and remote dwelling," could not supply the 
place in such an emergency. Ephraim How* also " was propoun- 
ded and chosen drummer for this town," " Nathaniel Kimberly be- 
ing gone who did supply the place." The nightly watch was in- 
creased from four to seven, who were to watch from half an hour 
after sunset till sunrise. "And they are not to shoot off any of their 
guns except it be in case of an alarm ; against which time men were 
desired to prepare themselves by having their arms ready that they 
may quietly put them on and march away to the meeting house or 
otherwise as the order is; and that beforehand they would [deter- 
mine] how to dispose of wives and children, that they do not hang 
about them to hinder them from the public service." The train 
band were ordered to bring to every public meeting at least five or 
six charges of powder and shot. The farmers, when they came to 
meeting, were to " leave no more arms at home than they leave men 
to use them." A watch was to be kept at the farms ; and in the town 
beside the nightly watch, two men, taken in course, were to keep 
ward by day. It was "ordered that the half pikes be forthwith 
headed, and the whole ones mended or made as they need, and Lieut. 
Nash was desired to look after it." Every soldier was to provide him- 
self with cartridges ; " also no man is to leave his gun in the meeting 
house on any public meeting days, as the manner of some is, lest 
their guns be seized and they fined for it." " Samuel Whitehead 
was desired to dress the swords that are brought to him for that pur- 
pose ; and the gunsmiths are desired to attend to the mending of the 
guns in the town that are brought to them." Wood was ordered to 

* For a marvelous story about this Ephraim How, in Mather's own mar- 
velous style, see Magn. VI, r$. 

44 



346 

be provided for the watch house. The door of the meeting house 
next the soldiers' seat was to be kept clear from women and children, 
that in case of an alarm the soldiers might have a free passage. 
Then after the transaction of some more ordinary and peaceful busi- 
ness,* " the governor acquainted the town, that the Indians complain 
that the swine that belong to the town or farms do them much wrong 
in eating their corn, and now they intend to take in a new piece of 
ground ; and they desired the English would help thein to fence it, 
and that those who have meadows at the end of their ground would 
fence it, and save them fencing about. Sergeant Jeffery and John 
Brocket were desired to go speak with them, to know what ground 
it is which they intend to take in, and to view it and see what fencing 
it may be, and give them the best direction they can. The saga- 
more also desires the town to give him a coat. He saith he is old 
and poor, and cannot work. The town declared themselves free 
that he should have a coat given him at the town's charge." 

At the next town meeting, on the 11th of April, "the governor 
desired that in his absence [he was to attend a meeting of the Com- 
missioners of the United Colonies on the 19th] they would be care- 
ful to see the watches duly attended ; and that the great guns may 
be fitted for service, and that the platform may be finished, and though 
it cost more than the jurisdiction will allow, yet it must be done, and 
New Haven must bear it," &-c. Then, after some ordinary busi- 
ness, "it is ordered concerning the Indians' land, spoken of, the 
last court, that Thomas Jeffery, John Brocket, William Tuttil, and 
Robert Talmadge, shall be a committee to view the ground which 
they say is theirs, and to advise them for the best about fencing ; 
the meadow lying against their grounds bearing its due proportion; 
and that some men be appointed at the town's charge to show them 
how and help them in their fencing; that so we may not have such 
complaints from them of cattle and hogs spoiling their corn, which 
they say makes their squaws and children cry." 

* Immediately after the order about a free passage from the soldiers' seat 
in the meeting house, to the door, follows, " The boys and youths of the 
town are ordered to sit in the seat where the scholars used to sit, and one of 
the corporals are desired to sit in the uppermost seat behind them, to see that 
they be not disorderly; and what cannot sit there are to sit before the dea- 
cons' seat, and old Brother Wheeler is to look to tiictn ; and if any boys ab- 
sent themselves from ihese places, the marshal is to look after them and 
bring them in." 



347 

The apprehension of danger was continually increasing, and in 
the month of May, " it was ordered that the officers give in cliarge 
to the warders, to let the Indians know that they are not to come into 
the town with any arms, and if after warning any shall so come, that 
they take their arms away. And if any strange Indians come into 
the town, that they examine them; and if their business be public, 
to carry them to the magistrate that he may know it; but if they 
have no such business, then they are to cause them to depart, and 
not suffer them to walk up and down the town." 

In that busy time of military preparation, the execution of the or- 
der for fencing the Indians' planting grounds appears to have been 
neglected. But in October, the subject was called up again and " it 
was thought most convenient, and so ordered, that the townsmen 
shall treat with the Indians, getting Mr. Pierson and his Indian for 
interpreters,* and make a full agreement in writing, what we shall 
do, and what they shall be bound to ; and let them know that what 
their agreement is, we expect they shall perform it." Accordingly, 
" at a general court for New Haven, December 5th, 1653, the gov- 
ernor informed the town that the meeting is about an agreement 
made with the Indians about fencing them in a new cornfield, where- 
in, at the town's request, Mr. Pierson hath been desired to be help- 
ful as interpreter ; to which agreement the townsmen have subscribed 
on behalf of the town, and the sagamore and sundry other Indians 
have set their marks, for themselves and the rest of the Indians, — 
Mr. Pierson and John Brocket witnesses, — made the 29th of Novem- 
ber, 1G53; wherein threescore days' work is promised them towards 
their fence, and they have bound themselves to do no damage to the 
English cattle, and to secure their own corn from damage, or to re- 
quire none; — which agreement was read to the town, and assented 
to by them. And after some debate about the manner of doing the 
days' work, it was voted that it should be done by men fit and able 
for the work, and be paid out of the town treasury." 

The agreement being put upon the files and not upon the records, 
we have only the abstract given above, to show us what it was. 

At a court of magistrates for the jurisdiction, 18th October, 1656, 
" New Haven Indians were with the court, and desired them to lend 

* The Rev. Abraham Pierson, the first minister ofBranford, is commemo- 
rated among tliose early ministers of New England who like Eliot labored 
for the conversion of the heathen around them. He preached to the Indians 
in New Haven colony, and to aid him in this work a considerable sum was 
voted by the Commissioners of the United Colonies. — Trumbull, I, 460. 



348 

them, now in the time of their fears, three pounds of powder. They 
were told that they must remove themselves to the other side where 
their own land is, and not dwell here near the town, where they are 
disorderly and give offense ; and upon their remove thither, which 
they have seven or eight days liberty for, they shall have three 
pounds of powder lent them." 

At a similar court on the 25th of May, 1657, "Thomas Hope- 
well, an Indian that inhabits at Branford, was complained of for 
giving railing and threatening words to several persons, as John 
Whitehead, Francis Bradley, Samuel Ward, Josias Ward, and Good- 
wife Williams and her son, saying that he would knock some of them 
in the head, stab some of them at the heart, meet with them in the 
woods some time or other, and then let them look to it. He hath also 
accused to Goodw. Williams, Francis Bradley for being naught with 
his wife, and after denied it again. But being examined and seve- 
ral writings read by way of testimony, witnessing his miscarriages, he 
could show no just cause for such words or carriage, but said he had 
no witness here to clear him. Whereupon he had liberty to send 
for them ; and he was told, upon security he might have his liberty ; 
but failing of that he was committed to prison in the mean time. 
After a convenient season of waiting, he was called before the court 
again, but no witness appeared to clear him ; only he accused the 
wife of Richard Harrison for giving him some idle words which he 
requited with worse, both which the court witnessed against, and told 
him that if he can clear himself of all or any of these charges, he hath 
liberty. At last he confessed that he had done foolishly, and said he 
was faulty in the particulars mentioned, and promised amendment. 
Whereupon Mr. Crane, John Whitehead, Francis Bradley, and Rich- 
ard Harrison, who where present, declared themselves satisfied so far 
as to make a trial for a time. And the court told Thomas the In- 
dian that the miscarriages are very great, and such as may not be 
borne, and had it been an Englishman he would have been witness- 
ed against in another manner ; but upon his confession, and promise 
to walk inoffensively hereafter, the court will spare him, and also 
make a trial for this time ; and so upon his paying his fees for im- 
prisonment, and other charges, if it be required, he may have his 
liberty." May not this Thomas Hopewell have been Mr. Pierson's 
Indian, mentioned p. 347? Another " Thomas the Indian," a wheel- 
right, appears upon the town records in 1657, as an absconding 
debtor. 



349 

In April, 1G57, the Q,uinnipiack Indians asked leave of the town 
to remove from their allotted ground in East Haven, and to hire 
some land for planting about Oyster Point, desiring to live there for 
that summer. Their request was accompanied with fair promises, 
" that they would not be injurious to the English, and that they 
would not work on the Sabbath day." The townsmen were au- 
thorized to treat with them, and were instructed to insist on these 
conditions, — " that they harbor no strange Indians to dwell with 
them ; that they kill all their dogs, (some of them having done mis- 
chief already ;) that they neither burn nor otherwise destroy any 
man's fence, nor cut wood upon any man's ground without leave, 
nor take away any wood already cut, as some of them have done, 
and if they do, just satisfaction will be required ; that they stay not 
late in the town at night, nor come into the town with any arms, 
hatchets, clubs, &c. ; that they come not into any houses without 
asking leave, and if they are bid to go away, that they do it without 
gainsaying." Thus instructed, " the committee met and treated 
with the sagamore and some other Indians deputed, who after con- 
sideration returned answer, that the Indians would not kill their 
dogs." Upon this point the negotiation failed. 

In September, 1659, " Wampom, the sachem of Totoket, entered 
an action against Thomas Mulliner, concerning damage he sustained 
in corn planted upon land hired of him. But through the want of 
an interpreter, the court could not come to the knowledge of the 
case. The plaintift' was desired to procure an interpreter against 
the court in October next; at which time, he was told, that the 
court would attend the issuing of the matter." Probably the affair 
was settled between the parties ; for nothing more appears on the 
records. 

In October, 1648, Mr. John Whitmore, of Stamford, was mur- 
dered in the woods by the Indians. Dr. Trumbull gives the story, 
(I, 176.) " The sachem's son first carried the news into town, and 
reported that one Toquattoes had killed him, and had some of his 
clothes, of which he gave a particular description. From this cir- 
cumstance, it was suspected, that he was either a principal or an ac- 
complice in the crime. No such evidence, however, could be ob- 
tained as would warrant the apprehending him. The English took 
great pains to find the remains of Mr. Whitmore, but could make no 
discovery at tliat time. About two months after, Uncas, with several 
of his Indians, went to Stamford, and making inquiry concerning 



350 

Mr. Whitraore's body, the sachem's son and one Kehoran, another 
of the natives who had been suspected, led Uncas, with his men, and 
a number of the Enghsh, directly to the place of his remains. Upon 
carrying them into town, the sachem's son and Kehoran fell a-trem- 
bling, and manifested such signs of guilt, that the Moheagans de- 
clared that they were guilty. But before they could be apprehended, 
they made their escape. The Indians at Stamford and its vicinity, 
either through fear of their sachem, or favor to his son, or from some 
other cause, charged the murder upon Toquattoes. But neither he, 
nor the other suspected persons, were delivered up, nor could the 
English bring them to any examination respecting the subject." 

Certainly the suspicion against the sachem's son was very strong. 
I cannot but suspect that in some communities, so many suspicious 
circumstances would have been thought proof enough against an In- 
dian. But in 16G2, fourteen years after the murder, Taphanse, the 
sachem's son, was arrested and brought to trial in New Haven. 
The record of the trial covers four folio pages in the minute chirog- 
raphy of James Bishop, and therefore cannot be given here. In- 
stead of a transcript, I offer a brief summary of the testimony, and 
of the replies of the defendant. 

1. It was proved against him that on the day on which the mur- 
der was committed, he was with some other Indians at the house of 
Goodman Whitmore, and shook Goodwife Whitmore by the hand, 
and asked her " where her netop was, for he so big loved her netop ;" 
and that this fawning of his was such as awakened instantly the wo- 
man's suspicion, and filled her with the apprehension that some evil 
had befallen her husband. To this he answered, " What shall he 
say if testimony come in against him; but if he speak the truth he 
must say he was not there, and that it was a mistake." And this the 
interpreter said, " he spake in such a phrase as noted his confirma- 
tion of it more than ordinary, ' that if Manatue [Manitou] was here, 
he would say the same as he doth.' " 

2. It was proved that Taphanse came to Mr. Lawes' about sun- 
rise, on the second morning after Goodman Whitmore left home, 
and brought the news that an Englishman had been killed ; that be- 
ing asked, where, he answered that he knew not whether it was ten 
miles off or twenty, but pointed " up-the-river-ward," intimating 
that it was in that direction ; — that upon farther inquiry he said the 
murder was committed by an Indian that lived up near the Mohawks, 
who had told them at their wigwams that he would kill an English- 



351 

man, and vvlio, when ihey offered him wampum not to do it, refused 
tlie wampum and went away angry, and after the murder returned 
again, bringing some of the murdered man's apparel ; and that in the 
haste in which this murderer, whom he named Toquattoes, went 
away, he left one of the stockings at their wigwams. It also ap- 
peared that Mr. Lawes and some others went with him to the wig- 
wams; and on the way he so trembled and shook, that several of 
them took notice of it as a sign of guilt ; — and that there, after show- 
ing them the stocking, though he had promised to return with them 
and help them seek the dead body, he gave them the slip and made 
his escape. To this he answered only by a denial of the facts testi- 
fied. As for the trembling, Mr. Minor, the interpreter, testified that 
he had been often among the Indians when mischief was done 
among the English, and that those Indians who were innocent would 
tremble for fear. 

3. It was proved that afterwards, when Uncas and his Indians 
went with several of the Stamford Indians to seek the dead body, 
he not only conducted them directly to the spot, notwithstanding his 
former professions of ignorance, but afterwards as they were roast- 
ing venison, slipped out of sight and ran away, "so that Uncas 
brought word that Taphanse was matchct."* To this he replied that 
he did run away, because he had been told by another Indian that 
Uncas was intending to seize him. He admitted that he did very ill 
in so doing, and gave just cause of suspicion, and professed to be very 
sorry for it. He also said that Toquattoes had told him, some time 
after the murder was committed, where the remains could be found. 

4. This was another ground of suspicion. There appeared to 
have been no litde " correspondency" and mutual understanding 
between Taphanse and the murderer. He was asked how he knew 
so perfectly that Toquattoes did the murder, — was he by? To this 
his answer was not entirely satisfactory, though it might be true, and 
if true, was consistent with his innocence. He was asked how he 
came to see Toquattoes after the murder, when he ascertained the 
place where the remains were to be found. He answered that Mr. 
Lawes sent him on that errand, — a circumstance, which in his 
former examination at Stamford he had not mentioned at all. It 
also appeared that Toquattoes had been at Stamford the winter be- 
fore the trial ; and that Taphanse saw him there, and though he 
knew himself to be suspected, took no pains to clear himself by 



" Match'U — naught or evil." Rojjor Williams, Key, .'lO. 



352 

making it known that tlie murderer was there, but concealed the 
guilty person. He admitted that this was suspicious; but said the 
English never told him to do any such thing. 

The sentence of the court was pronounced by Gov. Leet. It ex- 
hibits, as the decisions of those courts sometimes do, some principles 
that seem to us altogether out of place in a judicial proceeding ; but 
it shows no hatred towards the Indian. After summing up the evi- 
dence, the governor declared, " that in the whole there stands a blot 
against him of suspicion ; that there was sufficient ground for his ap- 
prehending and committing to durance, and all that he hath said at 
this time cannot clear him of a stain of suspicion. But as being 
guilty of the murder directly or accessary, he did pronounce him not 
guilty in point of death ; but must declare him to stand bound to pay 
all charges that hath been about him ; and leave him guilty of sus- 
picion, and that he stands bound as his duty, to do his best endeavor 
to obtain the murderer, and now to remain in durance until the next 
session of the court, about a fortnight hence, except he can give some 
assurance of his paying the charge before ; — which charge was con- 
cluded to be ^10." 

The Indian answered, " that he would do his utmost endeavor to 
procure Toquattoes; and for the charge he is poor, but he will send 
to his friends to see what may be done in it." He " desired that his 
chain may be taken off; he was told, then he would run away. He 
answered that upon his running away he confessed himself guilty, 
and said they should kill him. Upon this he was granted to be at 
liberty, so that he appear at the next meeting of the court, which he 
promised to do, although he could not obtain the money." Nothing 
seems to have been done at the next court. The charge was doubt- 
less borne by the jurisdiction. 

Another specimen of justice inflicted upon the English for wrong 
done to the Indians, is found under the date of the first of March, 
1664, " Nathaniel Tharpe being called before the court for stealing 
venison from an Indian called Ourance, — Ourance was called and 
asked what he had to say against Nathaniel Tharpe. Nasup on his 
behalf declared, that Ourance had killed a deer, and hanged some of 
it upon a tree and brought some of it away, and coming by (on the 
Sabbath day in the afternoon) Nathaniel Tharpe's house, his dog 
barked, and Nathaniel Tharpe came out and asked Ourance, what he 
carry 1 and Ourance said. Venison, and further said that he had 
more a little walk in the woods. Then Nathaniel Tharpe said to 
him that the wolf would eat it. Ourance said, no, he had hanged it 



353 

upon a tree. Then he said that Nathaniel Tharpe said to him, Where, 
where ? — and he told him, A little walk, and to-morrow he would 
truck it. Then to-morrow Ourance went for the venison, and 
two quarters of it was gone ; and he see this man's track in the snow, 
and see blood. Then he came to Nathaniel Tharpe and tell him that 
he steal his venison ; but Nathaniel Tharpe speak, Ourance lie, and 
that he would tantack him. And Ourance further said, that he whis- 
per to Nathaniel Tharpe, and told him if he would give him his veni- 
son he would not discover him ; but still he peremptorily denied it, 
and told many lies concerning it, and after it was found in an out 
house of his, he said he had trucked it the week before, &c. Nathan- 
iel Tharpe was asked what he had to say to this that was laid against 
him? He answered, he should not deny that which was true; but 
that he said so often to him. Where, where it was, he did not ; but he 
did ask him where he had been ; and that he told him, in the woods 
a little walk ; and that which he had said before the magistrates was 
the truth, that he had a hurry came upon him to go to fetch it ; and 
he went in the evening after the Sabbath, and followed the Indian's 
track, and found it. He said that his sin was great," &lc. " He 
was told seriously of his sin and of his falseness" — of which some 
particulars are set down in the record ; — " and he was told the seve- 
ral aggravations of his sin, as that it seemed to be conceived on the 
Lord's day, staying at home by reason of some bodily weakness, — 
and that he had done it to an Indian, and to a poor Indian, and when 
himself had no need of it, — and so often denying it, &c. whereby he 
makes the English and their religion odious to the heathen, and 
thereby hardens them." " So the court proceeded to sentence, and 
for his theft declared, according to the law in the case, that he 
pay double to the Indian, viz. the venison with two bushels of Indian 
corn ; and for his notorious being, and the several aggravations of 
his sin, that he pay as a fine to the plantation 20 shillings, and sit 
in the stocks the court's pleasure. And he was told that were it not 
that they considered him as sometimes distempered in his head, 
they should have been more sharp with him." 

The first trial on the records of the New Haven colony is that of 
the Pequot captain. The last is the trial of an Indian from a dis- 
tance, who, for some abuse offered to the person of a yoimg girl, was 
ordered to be severely whipped and sent away to his own count rv, 
and warned not to return again at his peril, This was on the 23d 
of May, 1664. 

45 



354 



No. IX. 

GOVERNOR EATON. 

After the death of Gov. Eaton, "there wa.s found in his cabinet 
a paper fairly written with his own hand, and subscribed also with 
his own hand, having his seal also thereunto affixed, as his last will 
and testament, which said will though not testified by any witnesses, 
nor subscribed by any hands as witnesses," was presented to the 
court of magistrates, and was by them recognized and confirmed 
as Governor Eaton's last will and testament, notwithstanding the 
informality, "because," said they, "his hand writing is so well 
known to many of this court and very many others, that we do 
believe and judge that the said paper was all written and sub- 
scribed with the said Mr. Eaton's own hand, and intended by him 
to be his will and testament." 

The will begins thus, " I, Theophilus Eaton, sometime of London, 
merchant, now planter in New Haven, in New England, at present 
enjoying, through God's goodness, comfortable health, and memory, 
but considering the shortness and uncertainty of man's life and my 
own age and weakness, do make and ordain," &c. " First, I com- 
mend rny soul into the hands of God, reconciled and become a father 
unto me in Christ Jesus my Lord, and my body," &c. He gives to 
his wife one third part of his real estate " whether in England, lying 
and being in the parish of Great Budworth, in the county of Chester, 
or in any other place in the said county, or whether in New England, 
in or near New Haven aforesaid, to have and to hold the same du- 
ring her life. He also gives to his wife one third of the residue of 
his estate, his debts and funeral expenses being first paid, adding, 
" and in token of my love, fifty pounds over and above her thirds." 
" And whereas I received of Mr. John Evance, sometime of New 
Haven, now settled in London, by order of Mr. Nathaniel Riley of 
London, the sum of one hundred pounds for a legacy intended for 
the good of some part of New England, though not so expressed, I 
hereby declare that I have already delivered to our reverend pastor, 
Mr. John Davenport, certain books lately belonging to my brother, 
Mr. Samuel Eaton, intended for the use of a college, and apprised, 
as I take it, to about or near twenty pounds, (as by my brother's ac- 



355 

count may appear,) as a part of the said hundred pounds ; and further, 
I have disbursed in rigging, iron-work, blocks and other charges, 
several years since, towards the ship Fellowship, I conceive, the 
whole remainder of the said <£100, all which, I take it, is in the 
hands of Mr. Stephen Goodyear, as by an account he hath under my 
hand ; or if it should fall any thing short, my will and mind is that it 
be duly made up out of my estate, and be improved for the good of 
New Haven, by the advice of the magistrates and elders there." 
He provides for a settlement of accounts with his brother Samuel and 
leaves him "twenty pounds as a legacy." He gives " to Mary Low, 
daughter to my sister Frances, the sum of ten pounds," — '' to my 
Avife's son, Thomas Yale,' five pounds," — "to my dear son-in-law, 
Mr. Hopkins, and to my reverend pastor, Mr. John Davenport, to 
each of them, ten pounds, as a small token of my love and respect." 
The remainder of his estate he orders to be divided equally between 
his three children, Mary, Theophiius, and Hannah ; only from Ma- 
ry's part is to be deducted ,£200 previously paid for her to her hus- 
band, Valentine Hill; and " what shall be paid out of my estate to 
answer any miscarriages of my son Theophiius," is to be deducted 
from his portion. His son-in-law, Edward Hopkins, and his wife, 
are appointed, execu-tor and executrix. The instrument is dated 
r2th of August, 1656. 

The inventory of his estate in the colony is summed 

up at ^1515 12 6 

To which was to be added for debts due to the 

estate, - - - - - 41 00 2 

From which was to be deducted for debts due 

from the estate, and funeral expenses, - 115 17 1 



" So there rests, - - - ^1440 15 7" 

He who reads over the particulars inventoried will not fail to per- 
ceive that the governor, as Hubbard says, " maintained a port in 
some measure answerable to his place." A few of the particulars 
are selected. 

" Imprimis, all his wearing apparel, - - ,£50 00 00 

Itm. in plate, - - - - - 107 11 00 

Itm. in a piece of gold 20s., and in silver, 25s., 2 05 00 

Itm. in two signet rings of gold, - - 2 12 00"* 

* There was also " a silver gilt basin and ewer" valued at £40, which, 
being claimed by Mrs. Eaton " as her proper estate," was not included in 
the inventory. See Mather, II, 27. 



356 

Here is a curious illustration of the scarcity of money. The rich- 
est man in New Haven with something like $700 worth of plate in 
his house, had only about $10 in money. This might be called a 
hard currency. 

The articles " in the green chamber" were as follows. 

" a cypress chest, - - - <£1 10 

Itm. a cupboard with drawers, 45s., a short table, 6s.8(7., 2 11 8 
Itm. a bedstead, lO.s., a tapestry covering for a bed, ,£4, 4 10 
Itm. a tapestry carpet, £4, a bed coverlet, 13s, 4d., 4 13 4 
Itm. a green cupboard cloth, 26s. 8d., — another cup- 
board cloth, 15s., - - - - 2 01 8 
Itm. 6 cushions of Turkey work, a long window 

cushion, - - - - -2 13 4 

Itm. 2 needlework cushions, 16s., 6 green cushions, 20s., 1 16 
Itm. a couch with the appurtenances, - - 1 10 

Itm. a green cupboard cloth, 6s. 8c/., a green carpet 

fringed, 30.s., .... 

Itm. 2 white blankets, - . - - 

Itm. a red cupboard cloth laced, ... 
Itm. a set of curtains with valance fringed, 
Itm. a down bed, 4 pillows, and a feather bolster, 
Itm. 3 white blankets, £2. 10s., a rug, £2. 10s., - 
Itm. a set of green curtains and valance, fringed and 

laced, - - . . - 

Itm. hangings about the chamber, 
Itm. a pair of brass andirons, dogs, fire-pans, and 

tongs of brass, - - - - 1 10 

Itm. a short green carpet, 3s. 4d., a great chair, and 

two little chairs, 18s., - - - 1 01 4 

Itm. 6 low stools, 24s., a looking glass, 10s., - 114 

Itm. red valance, crewel and canvass, - - 10 

Beside "the green chamber," there was "the blue chamber," 
with nothing of " blue laws" in the furniture, — " the hall," a stately 
apartment as I judge, with "drawing table," and " round table," 
" green cushions," "great chair with needlework," " high chairs" 
and "high stools," " low chairs" and "low stools," "Turkey car- 
pet," " high wine stools," "great brass andirons," &lc. — "the par- 
lor," less considerable than the hall, — " Mrs. Eaton's chamber," 
with abundant furnishing, — "the chamber over the kitchen," — and 
" the other chamber." In " the counting house" one item is, 



1 


16 8 


1 


06 8 




5 6 


1 


10 


6 


10 


5 00 


3 00 


2 


15 



357 

" books, and a <5lobe, and a nnap," amounting to £^8. 155. The 
real estate, consisting of " the house with all the accommodations 
thereunto, with the two farms, and the half part of the mill," is ap- 
prised at =£525. 

The estate of Governor Eaton, was by a vote of the town, freed 
from taxes for a year after his death, as a testimony of gratitude for 
his great public services. At the suggestion of Lieut. Nash, it was 
provided that this should not be a precedent for similar exemptions 
afterwards. 

Mrs. Eaton, soon after her husband's death, returned to England 
with her children. The town sent a man with her to Boston at the 
public expense. This was done, obviously, less out of affection to 
her than out of gratitude to the memory of her husband. By this 
removal, Elihu Yale, her grandson, whose name was afterwards 
given to the college here, was taken to England, he being then about 
ten years old. To my mind there is a beauty in the providential 
connection between the family of Eaton and the endowment of Yale 
College. 

The governor in the New Haven colony, and in the other colo- 
nies at that early day, was not simply the head of the executive de- 
partment. He was chief magistrate. He presided in all courts, 
from the General Court for the jurisdiction down to the town meet- 
ing for New Haven. Eaton was the ruling mind of the colony in all 
that related to the laws and the administration of the laws ; and if 
there is any thing to be ashamed of in the early jurisprudence of 
New Haven, the disgrace must attach itself to his memory. It was 
my intention to give in this place, from the only authentic sources, a 
complete exhibition of the courts, laws, crimes, and punishments in 
the colony of New Haven, as they were in theory and in actual ope- 
ration. But I find that the limits of this volume will not allow me to 
enter upon such an undertaking. A mere outline would not be sat- 
isfactory, either to the friends, or to tlie maligners, of the New Eng- 
land fathers. 



358 
No. X. 

THE STATEMENT OF THE NEW HAVEN COLONS. 

It was once said by a well informed man, that the coerced union 
of New Haven with Connecticut was parallel in wrong with the par- 
tition of Poland. Without assenting to so strong an affirmation, we 
must admit that the transactions of that period on the part of Con- 
necticut, "do not tell well in history." There is a strong and highly 
probable tradition, that many of the people of New Haven colony 
were at the first desirous of a union with Connecticut on equal terms. 
Yet the manner in which the Connecticut authorities proceeded, not 
merely proposing a union, but by virtue of their royal charter de- 
manding submission, and receiving under their protection, not only 
those towns which chose to unite with them, but even individuals in 
towns which adhered to their old organization, seems to have occa- 
sioned in New Haven a more united and prolonged resistance to the 
union. 

A serious difficulty occurred in Guilford on the 30th of December, 
16G3. A violent and troublesome man, who had put himself under 
the protection of Connecticut, finding that he was likely to be called 
to a severe account, " went up to Connecticut and there obtained 
two of their magistrates, marshal, and sundry others to come down 
with him" for the purpose of enforcing the jurisdiction of Connec- 
ticut. These dignitaries "coming into the town at an unseasonable 
time of night, their party by shooting off sundry guns, caused the 
town to be alarmed unto great disturbance." Governor Leete sent 
away to Branford and New Haven for help, " which caused both 
those towns to be alarmed also to great disturbance the same night." 
Men were sent over from New Haven and Branford to maintain at 
any rate the authority of the colony. The gentlemen from Connec- 
ticut, finding their force inadequate, appear to have withdrawn, 
proposing that there should be another negotiation between the two 
colonies, " wherein they hoped matters might come to a more com- 
fortable issue." On this occasion the General Court was convened 
on the 7th of January, 1664, " though the weather proved very un- 
seasonable." Governor Leete having told the whole story, desired 
to know " whether the court would yield so far" as to suspend the 



359 

enforcing of their authority till after another negotiation. "But the 
court considering how fruitless all former treaties had been, and that 
they had formerly ordered that there should be no more treaty with 
them, unless they first restore us those members, which they liad so 
unrighteously taken from us, therefore did now again confirm the 
same, and in the issue came to this conclusion, to desire Mr. Dav- 
enport and Mr. Street, to draw up in writing all our grievances, and 
then, with the approbation of as many of the committee as could 
come together, to send it to Connecticut unto their General Assem- 
bly, — which accordingly was done in March next." For that docu- 
ment, " with arguments annexed, and sundry testimonies both from 
Guilford and Stamford," the Secretary refers to a subsequent page, 
where he says they are recorded. The record, however, to which 
he refers, was never quite finished. The original, I am told, is not 
found among the archives of the State at Hartford. 

" The writings sent to the General Assembly of Connecticut here 
followeth ; and the first is called, 

" New Haven's case stated. 

" Honored and beloved in the Lord, — We, the General Court of 
New Haven colony, being sensible of the wrongs which this colony 
hath lately suffered by your unjust pretenses and encroachments 
upon our just and proper rights, have unanimously consented, though 
with grief of heart, being compelled thereunto, to declare unto you, 
and unto all whom the knowledge thereof may concern, what your- 
selves do or may know to be true as followeth. 

" 1. That the first beginners of these plantations by the sea-side 
in these western parts of New England, being engaged to sundry 
friends in London, and in other places about London (who purposed 
to plant, some with them in the same town, and others as near to 
them as they might) to provide for themselves some convenient 
places by the sea-side, arrived at Boston in the Massachusetts, (hav- 
ing a special right in their patent, two of them being joint purchasers 
of it with others, and one of them a patentee, and one of the assist- 
ants chosen for the New England company in London,) where they 
abode all the winter following ; but not finding there a place suitable 
to their purpose, were persuaded to view these parts, which those 
that viewed approved ; and before their removal, finding that no 
English were planted in any place from the fort (called Saybrook) 



3G0 

to the Dutch, proposed to purchase of the Indians, the natund pro- 
prietors of those lands, that whole tract of land by the sea-coast, for 
themselves and those that should come to them ; which they also sig- 
nified to their friends in Hartford in Connecticut colony, and desired 
that some fit men from thence might be employed in that business, 
at their proper cost and charges who wrote to them. Unto which 
letter having received a satisfactory answer, they acquainted the 
Court of magistrates of Massachusetts colony with their purpose to 
remove and the grounds of it, and with their consent began a plan- 
tation in a place situated by the sea, called by the Indians Quillipi- 
ack ; which they did purchase of the Indians the true proprietors 
thereof, for themselves and their posterity ; and have quietly pos- 
sessed the same about six and twenty years ; and have buried 
great estates in buildings, fencings, clearing the ground, and in all 
sorts of husbandry ; without any help from Connecticut or depen- 
dence on them. And by voluntary consent among themselves, they 
settled a civil court and government among themselves, upon such 
fundamentals as were established in Massachusetts by allowance of 
their patent, whereof the then governor of the Bay, the Right Wor- 
shipful Mr. Winthrop, sent us a copy to improve for our best advan- 
tage. These fundamentals all the inhabitants of the said Q,uillipi- 
ack approved, and bound themselves to submit unto and maintain ; 
and chose Theophilus Eaton, Esq. to be their governor, with as good 
right as Connecticut settled their government among themselves, and 
continued it above twenty years without any patent.* 

" 2. That when ,the help of Mr. Eaton our governor, and some 
others from Quillipiack, was desired for ending of a controversy at 
Wethersfield, a town in Connecticut colony, it being judged neces- 
sary for peace that one party should remove their dwellings, upon 
equal satisfying terms proposed, the Governor, magistrates, dtc. of 
Connecticut offered for their part, that if the party that would re- 
move should find a fit place to plant in upon the river, Connecticut 
would grant it to them ; and the Governor of Quillipiack (now called 
New Haven) and the rest there present, joined with him, and prom- 
ised that if they should find a fit place for themselves by the sea-side, 

* Connecticut, in tlie year 1644, purchased of the Lords Say-and-Seal, 
Brook and others, their estabhshnient at Saybrook and their patent under 
the earl of Warwick, the bounds of which were the same with the bounds 
afterwards given to the colony by the charter of 1662. See Trumbull. I, 
27, 148. The patent proved to be of no value. 



361 

New Haven would grant it to them, which accordingly New Haven 
performed ; and so the town of Stamford began, and became a mem- 
ber of New Haven colony, and so continueth unto this day. Thus 
in a public assembly in Connecticut, was the distinct right of Con- 
necticut upon the river and of New Haven by the sea-side, declared, 
with the consent of the governor, magistrates, ministers and better 
sort of the people of Connecticut at the time. 

"3. That sundry other townships by the sea-side and Southold on 
Long Island, (being settled in their inheritances by right of pur- 
chase of their Indian proprietors,) did voluntarily join themselves to 
New Haven, to be all under one jurisdiction, by a firm engagement 
to the fundamentals formerly settled in New Haven ; whereupon it 
was called New Haven Colony. The General Court, being thus 
constituted, chose the said Theophilus Eaton, Esq., a man of singu- 
lar wisdom, godliness and experience, to be the governor of New 
Haven Colony; and they chose a competent number of magistrates 
and other officers for the several towns. Mr. Eaton so well man- 
aged that great trust, that he was chosen governor every year while 
he lived. All this time Connecticut never questioned what was done 
at New Haven ; nor pretended any right to it, or to any of the towns 
belonging to this colony ; nor objected against our being a distinct 
colony. 

"4. That when the Dutch claimed a right to New Haven, and 
all along the coast by the sea-side, it being reported they would set 
up the Prince of Orange's arms, the governor of New Haven, to 
prevent that, caused the king of England's arms to be fairly cut in 
wood, and set upon a post in the highway by the sea-side,* to vindi- 
cate the right of the English, without consulting Connecticut or seek- 
ing their concurrence therein. 

" 5. That in the year 1643, upon weighty considerations, an union 
of four distinct colonies was agreed upon by all New England, (ex- 
cept Rhode Island,) in their several general courts, and was estab- 
lished by a most solemn confederation ; whereby they bound them- 
selves mutually to preserve unto each colony its entire jurisdiction 
within itself, respectively, and to avoid the putting of two into one 
by any act of their own without consent of the commissioners from 
the four United Colonies, which were from that time, and still are, 



" This was done in Feb. 1648, and the record of it is the only allusion to 
the king which I find before the restoration of the monarchy in 1G60. 

46 



362 

called and known by the title of the four United Colonies of New 
England. Of these colonies, New Haven was and is one. And 
in this solemn confederation Connecticut joined with the rest, and 
with us. 

" 6. That in the year 1644, the general court for New Haven 
colony, then sitting in the town of New Haven, agreed unanimously 
to send to England for a patent ; and in the year 1645, committed 
the procuring of it to Mr. Grigson, one of our magistrates, who en- 
tered upon his voyage in January that year, from New Haven, fur- 
nished with some beaver in order thereunto as we suppose. But by 
the providence of God, the ship and all the passengers and goods 
were lost at sea, in their passage towards England, to our great 
[grief] and the frustration of the design for the time ; after which 
the troubles in England put a stop to our proceedings therein. This 
was done with the consent and desire of Connecticut to concur with 
New Haven therein. Whereby the difference of times, and of men's 
spirits in them, may be discovered. For then the magistrates of Con- 
necticut with consent of their general court, knowing our purposes, 
desired to join with New Haven in procuring the patent, for common 
privileges to both in their different jurisdictions, and left it to Mr. Ea- 
ton's wisdom to have the patent framed accordingly. But now they 
seek to procure a patent without the concurrence of New Haven ; 
and contrary to our minds expressed before the patent was sent for, 
and to their own promise, and to the terms of the confederation, and 
without sufficient warrant from their patent, they have invaded our 
right, and seek to involve New Haven under Connecticut jurisdic- 
tion. 

"7. That in the year 1646, when the commissioners first met at 
New Haven, Keift, the then Dutch governor, by letters expostulated 
with the commissioners, by what warrant they met at New Haven 
without his consent, seeing it and all the sea-coast belonged to his 
principals in Holland, and to the Lords the States General. The an- 
swer to that letter was framed by Mr. Eaton, governor of New Haven 
and then president of the commission, approved by all the commis- 
sioners, and sent in their names with their consent to the then Dutch 
governor, who never replied thereunto. 

" 8. That this colony in the reign of the late King Charles the 
first, received a letter from the committee of Lords and Commons 
for foreign plantations, then sitting at Westminster, which letter was 
delivered to our governor, Mr. Eaton, for freeing the several distinct 



363 

colonies of New England from molestations by the appealing of 
troublesome spirits imto England, wiiereby they declared that they 
had dismissed all causes depending before them from New England, 
and that they advised all inhabitants to submit to their respective 
governments there established, and to acquiesce when their causes 
shall be there heard and determined, as it is to be seen more largely 
expressed in the original letter vv'hich we have, subscribed, ' Your 
assured friends, 

' Pembroke, ' Manchester, * Warwick, 

* W. Say and Seal, ' Fr. Dacre, &lc. ' Denbigh.' 

" In this order they subscribed their names with their own hands, 
which we have to show, and they inscribed or directed this letter — 
' To our worthy friends the governor and assistants of tlie plantations 
of New Haven in New England.' Whereby you may clearly see 
that the right honorable, the Earl of Warwick, and the Lord Vis- 
count Say and Seal, (lately one of his majesty King Charles the sec- 
ond's most honorable privy council, as also the right honorable Earl 
of Manchester still is,) had no purpose, after New Haven colony, sit- 
uated by the sea-side, was settled to be a distinct government, that 
it should be put under the patent for Connecticut, whereof they had 
only framed a copy before any house was erected by the sea-side 
from the fort to the Dutch, whicli yet was not signed and sealed by 
the last king for a patent ; nor had you any patent till your agent, 
Mr. Winthrop, procured it about two years since. 

"9. That in the year 1650, when the commissioners for the four 
united colonies of New England, met at Hartford, the now Dutch 
governor being then and there present, Mr. Eaton the then governor 
of New Haven colony, complained of the Dutch governor's encroach- 
ing upon our colony of New Haven, by taking under his jurisdiction 
a township beyond Stamford, called Greenwich. All the commis- 
sioners, (as well for Connecticut as for the other colonies,) concluded 
that Greenwich and four miles beyond it belongs to New Haven ju- 
risdiction ; whereunto the Dutch governor then yielded, and restored 
it to New Haven colony. Thus were our bounds westward settled 
by consent of all. 

" 10. That when the honored governor of Connecticut, John 
Winthrop, Esq., had consented to undertake a voyage for England 
to procure a patent for Connecticut in the year 1661, a friend warned 
him by letter, not to have his hand in so unrighteous an act, as so 
for to extend the line of their patent, that the colony of New Haven 



364 

should be involved within it. For answer thereunto, he was pleased 
to certify that friend, in two letters which he wrote from two several 
places before his departure, that no such thing was intended, but 
rather the contrary ; and that the magistrates had agreed and ex- 
pressed in the presence of some ministers, that if their line should 
reach us, (which they knew not, the copy being in England,) yet 
New Haven colony should be at liberty to join with them or not. 
This agreement, so attested, made us secure, who also could have 
procured a patent for ourselves within our own known bounds ac- 
cording to purchase, without doing any wrong to Connecticut in 
their just bounds and limits. 

"11. That notwithstanding all the premises, in the year 1C62, 
when you had received your patent under his majesty's hand and 
seal, contrary to your promise and solemn confederation, and to 
common equity, at your first general assembly, (which yet could not 
be called general without us, if we were under your patent, seeing 
none of us were by you called thereunto,) you agreed among your- 
selves, to treat with New Haven colony about union, by your com- 
missioners chosen for that end within two or three days after the 
assembly was dissolved. But before the ending of that session, you 
made an unrighteous breach in our colony, by taking under your 
patent some of ours from Stamford, and from Guilford, and from 
Southold, contrary to your engagements to New Haven colony, 
and without our consent or knowledge. This being thus done, 
some sent from you to treat with us, showed some of ours your 
patent ; which being read, they declared to yours that New Haven 
colony is not at all mentioned in your patent, and gave you some 
reasons why they believed that the king did not intend to put this 
colony under Connecticut without our desire or knowledge; and 
they added that you took a preposterous course, in first dismembering 
this colony, and after that treating with it about union ; which is as 
if one man proposing to treat with another about union, first cut off 
from him an arm, and a leg, and an ear, then to treat with him 
about union. Reverend Mr. Stone also, the teacher of the Church 
at Hartford, was one of the committee, who being asked what he 
thought of this action, answered, that he would not justify it. 

" 12. After that conference, our committee sent, by order of the 
General Court, by two of our magistrates, and two of our elders, a 
writing containing sundry other reasons for our not joining with you ; 
who also, finding that you persisted in your own will and way, de- 



365 

clared to yoa our own resolution to appeal to his majesty to explain 
his true intendment and meaning in your patent, whether it was to 
subject this colony under it or not ; being persuaded, as we still are, 
that it neither was nor is his royal will and pleasure to confound this 
colony with yours, which would destroy the so long continued and 
so strongly settled distinction of the four United Colonies of Neiv 
England, without our desire or knowledge. 

" 13. That, accordingly, we forthwith sent our appeal to be hum- 
bly presented to his Majesty, by some friends in London, yet out of 
our dear and tender respect to Mr. Winthrop's peace and honor, 
some of us advised those friends to communicate our papers to Hon- 
ored Mr. Winthrop himself, to the end that we might find out some 
effectual expedient, to put a good end to this uncomfortable difference 
between you and us, — else to present our humble address to his Ma- 
jesty. Accordingly it was done ; and Mr. Winthrop stopped the 
proceeding of our appeal, by undertaking to our friends that * 
******* 

[Here the hand of the Secretary rested ; and before he found time 
to finish the transcript, the New Haven jurisdiction had ceased 
to be.] 



366 



No. XI. 

LETTERS FROM JOHN DAVENPORT TO GOV. WINTHROP. 

[The following letters are from the autographs in the possession 
of Francis B. Winthrop, Esq., of this city. They have never before 
been published ; though they are occasionally referred to by Mr. 
Savage, who had access to them in preparing his invaluable edition 
of Winthrop's History.] 



Worthili/ honored Sir, — Upon frequent reports of God's gracious 
blessing your labors with good success in sundry cases, T was de- 
sirous to have made a journey to Pequot to confer with you about 
the state of my body, and desired Brother Andrews to signify the 
same unto you, by whom I understand that there is no conveniency 
for mine, and my wife's, and my son's lodging, and other accommo- 
dations there, and that yourself are upon a journey shortly for the 
Bay. I have therefore hired this Indian to be the bearer of these 
lines, and pray you to return by him your advice, not concerning my 
distemper, which I cannot so fully declare by writing, to your satis- 
faction and my own, as is meet, but concerning my way. My wife 
inclineth to our traveling with you to Boston, if you judge that a 
place and time fit for me to enter into any course of phjsic; but I 
hear the apothecary wants supplies of things, unless Carwithy be 
come ; and I hear that Mr. Ling, &c., newly returned from the Bay, 
saw a vessel at sea, about 200 tons, coming towards Boston, and I 
fear that your business there will not permit liberty for that, and that 
my body and the season will not suit it ; yet if you advise it as con- 
venient, I shall consider what you propound. If not, my desire is to 
know when you purpose to return if God please. I was glad when 
he told me that you had some purpose of coming into these parts ; 
and shall be more glad if I may understand from yourself that you 
continue that resolution, and will be pleased to put it into execution 
at your return from tlie Bay, and to accept of my house for your en- 
tertainment during your abode in these parts, there to refresh your- 
self with assurance that you shall be most heartily welcome to us. 
If you require it, for the preparing of directions suitable to my case, 



367 

that I give you notice of it particularly beforehand, I shall by the 
next opportunity, answer your desires, upon notice when my letter 
may probably find you at home ; or if you encourage me to come to 
Pequot after your return, we shall attend you there. But if you can 
afford me some liberty of discourse with you here, before you journey 
to the Bay, I think that would be best ; and I should be very much 
obliged unto you for that your labor of love. However, let me re- 
ceive such answer as you can, by this bearer. Present my true re- 
spects to Mrs. Winthrop, with loving salutations to Mr. Blinman. 
The Lord Jesus dwell with you in peace ! In whom I rest. 

Sir, yours assured, 

John Davenport. 
New Haven, this 20th d. of the 6th m. 1653. [Aug. 20th, 1653,] 

To his honored friend, John Winthuop, Esq. , these present in 
Pequot. 

II. 

Hond. Sir, — Your welcome lines dated Jan. 16, I received by 
this Indian, and read with gladness, giving thanks to God and you; 
— to God for your health, and the health of your family and town ; — 
to you for your loving remembrance of me and mine, and for your 
mindfulness to prepare for us against the fit season, as also for my 
brother Hooke, who returneth by my pen hearty thanks for your re- 
spects towards him, which I signified unto him. The winter hath 
been extraordinarily long, and sharp, and sickly among us. Sundry 
have been afflicted with pain in their head and sides, and stoppings 
at their breasts ; some were taken with great cold and shivering, 
others with sweating, but most with inward cold. Some are taken 
away by death, viz. four of this Church, and some of the town, be- 
sides children ; but most are restored to health again, though slowly. 
Your presence with us this winter might have been by the provi- 
dence of God, a great blessing to the whole town. I hope the season 
will shortly be altered ; and then I desire that we may proceed unto 
further use of means, for the perfecting of what remains to be attended 
in order to my health by the blessing of God, whereby I found some 
good as I apprehend, in the strengthening of my spirits for perform- 
ance of my ministerial work this winter, with some abatement of one 
cause of my weakness, whereof I gave you notice, though it still 
abideth with me in some degree. My family hath been kept from 
the common sickness in this town, by the goodness and mercy of 



368 

God, this winter; only Edmund, my man-servant, hath been exer- 
cised with it near unto death, but he is now, through the mercy of 
God, in an hopeful way of recovery. I have received some letters 
from England in Trumboll's vessel, whereby I perceive that things 
are there in a doubtful state ; and because I should be too tedious if 
I should relate particulars, I send you by this bearer, such books of 
intelligence as were sent me, — and in the same you will find enclosed 
some notes of the cases of some among us who desire to improve this 
opportunity to crave your advice and help. Tt is a singular fruit of 
God's favor to you, that he is pleased to make you his instrument in 
doing good to many. Yet T would not that your family should be 
endamaged thereby, which cannot be without guilt of un thank fulness 
in them who return not according to the benefit received. The fleet 
is gone from England for Hispaniola. Mr. Winslow is one of the 
council, not governor for aught T can learn. The small pox hath 
been the death of many in England, and the spotted fever. Capt. 
Astwood of Milford, is there dead, having first taken a great cold 
after his arrival, whereupon he was smitten with a dead palsy on one 
side, of which he died. I hope we shall enjoy your much desired 
company, with Mrs. Winthrop, at our house, sometime this month, 
where you may be assured of hearty welcome as the best part of 
your entertainment. The Lord Jesus dwell with you in peace and 
loving kindness; to whose grace I commend you and yours, affec- 
tionately, with respective salutations of yourself and Mrs. Winthrop, 
and Mrs. Lake, in both our names. I rest in him, 
Yours obliged, 

John Davenport. 

Mrs. Disborough and Goodman Jones of Guilford, died of the 
small pox, in England or Scotland. Mrs. Bressey, [Bracie] a mem- 
ber of this Church, hath buried three children in a month, of the 
small pox, in England ; yet it is thought by some that the third child 
died of the plague, as Mrs. Evance informeth me; but Mrs. Bressey 
in her letter to me saith they all died of the small pox. I find myself 
somewhat weaker in my spirits, and in my back, since our last Fast, 
which was ten days ago. 

To Ms honored friend, John Winthrop, Esq., tJiese present at 
Pequot.* 

* No date is given to this letter. From the contents, however, it appears 
to have been written at the close of the winter of 1654-5, — ten days after 



369 



III. 

Honored Sir, — It troubled me not a little that the want of a pil- 
lion to carry my wife, and of horses to bring us back from Brother 
Moulthrop's, and some business to be attended by appointment at 
three o'clock that afternoon in the town, compelled us to part with 
you at the water-side, whom we purposed to accompany unto his 
farm. But I hope the Lord brought you safe and well to your family, 
and there comforted you with the effects of his good providence to- 
wards yours in their welfare. Mr. Samuel Eaton and his wife re- 
turned lately from Hartford where they were both ill. They say it's 
thought that air is infected at present. Sundry have been exercised 
with a distemper like to that which prevailed here the last winter; 
but they are in a hopeful way of recovery ; and Capt. Conant is bet- 
ter. They have put such household stuff as they shall have use of, 
into a vessel bound hithervvard, purposing to keep house here. The 
three weeks, during which you purposed to be absent from us, are 
now expired ; therefore here is now a general expectation of your re- 
turn. For which cause, Brother Moulthrop is sent to wait upon you, 
or to know the precise time thereof, that horses may be seasonably 
sent to meet you at the river's mouth, (so many as may suit jour 
family,) and that something may be done towards the fitting of your 
house for their entertainment. My earnest and hearty desire is, 
that you would be pleased to accept this town's offer, and to settle 
your habitation among us, though you should dwell here but some 
part of the year, and another part at Pequotor wheresoever else your 
occasions may invite you to be. My wife joineth with me in that 
request, and in presenting respective and affectionate salutations to 
yourself, with Mrs. Winthrop and Mrs. Lake; and she prayeth you 
to be assured that any thing we have shall be at your service. Sister 
Glover, newly returned from Long Island, puts us in fear that you are 
in some thoughts about transporting your family to the Bay or to 
Connecticut; but I cannot believe either, though I believe you may 
be inclined to both. I hope that this messenger will put a period to 

the fast. At a General Court convened that winter, on the 30th of January, 
" the court considering the sad state of things in old England, our native 
country, as appears by what intelligence the)' have received from tlience 
since they came together, thought it their duty to set a day apart in the 
whole jurisdiction, for humiliation and solemn seeking of God," «&c., " which 
will he on the last day of February next." Ten days after that fast, would 
make the date of the letter 10, 1, 1654, [10 March, 1655.] 

47 



370 

all such intimations, either by your personal return with hira hither, 
or by some letter from you signifying the determined time when we 
may expect you. For you freely promised to stay with us at least a 
month or six weeks this spring, for the carrying on further what you 
have begun in my case and Mrs. Hopkins's, &/C. Then we shall 
have opportunity of conferring de futiiris. In the mean time, and 
ever, the good Lord recompense all your labor of love an hundred 
fold unto you and your family, and make your journey to us speedy 
and prosperous ; in whom I rest, 

Your obliged and thankful friend and servant, in any office of love, 

John Davenport. 

New Haven, this Hth day of the 2cl m. 1655 [Apr. 14, 1655.] 

Mr. Pell, they say, reports at Milford that the Dutch governor is 
slain by Spaniards ; sccJ uhi, quomodo, quando, quart, nondwn constat. 

Postscript. — Upon a confident re])ort that you was gone to the 
Bay, Bro. Moulthrop staid ; and so my letter, though sealed, was not 
sent yesterday. Another report said that a pinnace was sent from 
the Bay to fetch you ; but you could not go, being hindered by sick- 
ness. This report excited me to speak with our governor that one 
might be sent speedily ; and I hope Bro. Moulthrop will not be pre- 
vented to be our messenger. Also it occasioned my opening of my 
letter again, and adding this postscript, to certify you that I both pray 
and long to hear of your recovery, and have good hopes through the 
mercy of God in Christ Jesus, that you shall live to do him much 
more service in the land of the living. Only let us know how it is 
with you speedily, and when we shall expect you, and what you will 
have done about the house and lot ; and be assured that you are in 
our hearts, and in my prayers that your soul may be bound up in the 
bundle of life with the Lord our God, in Jesus Christ, your Lord and 
ours, in whom I rest. 

This 19ili d. of the 2d m. 1655. 

To the rigid worshipful, his worthily honored friend, John Win- 
THROP, Esq., these present in Pequot. 

IV. 

Sir, — Joseph Alsop being now returned from the Bay, we have 
taken the first opportunity of sending him with his vessel, to accom- 
modate your much desired transportation, with your family, unto us. 
Be pleased to accept this as a testimony of the reality and fervency 
of our desire to enjoy your much longed for and worthily much es- 



371 

teemed presence with us, and to favor us with a suitable answer, in 
assurance that none can be more welcome here than you and yours, 
nor can you and they be more welcome to any than to us. Sir, I 
have received from England almost all the particulars you appointed 
me to write for, which I desire you may see and dispose of as you 
shall find best. Salute Mrs. Winthrop and Mrs. Lake affectionately 
in both our names. My son presents his humble service to you. 
The good Lord recompense all your labors of love towards me an 
hundred fold, and make your passage safe and speedy, and comfort- 
able; in whom I rest. 

Sir, yours to honor and serve you in the Lord, 

John Davenport. 

New Haven, the 6lh d. of the 5th m. [July,] 1655. 
My wife hath not been well, but weak and feeble spirited this 
week. 

To the right zvorsMpful, his much honored friend, John Win- 
throp, Esq., these p7'escnt in Pequot. 



Honored Sir, — By Joseph Alsop we did expect your arrival with 
your family here, and your abode with us this winter. But instead 
of yourself I received your lines, whereby I understand that your 
real purpose of transporting your family, was, contrary to your ex- 
pectation, utterly disappointed. If you knew how much our hopes of 
enjoying you with us comforted us, you would easily apprehend how 
much the frustration of them damped us. And if Mrs. Winthrop 
knew how welcome she would be unto us, she would neglect what- 
soever others may suggest to discourage her from coining to us. 
And because I understood by Joseph Alsop how boisterously some of 
your plantation opposed your voyage, with your family, to us ward, 
and intimated that the vessel was rotten and your lives would be en- 
dangered by the voyage, I signified in a letter which I sent to you by 
Higby, that on the Lord's day after his departure from Pequot, which 
was the next day after the date of your letter to me, as I remember, 
Joseph Alsop gave public thanks in the congregation for his safe and 
comfortable passage. And that you might know what preparation 
was made for your comfortable being in your house this winter, I 
showed in the same letter how careful and active my wife hath been 
to procure hands to prepare your house, whereby your well is clean- 
sed, and a new pump set up, and the rooms are made Warm, and 



372 

tables, with some chairs, are provided. The twenty loads of wood 
you mentioned are ready, and some already laid in. The rest wait 
but for your coming. Also thirty bushels of wheat, and fifty pounds 
of candles ; which together with other things, I signified that you may 
see, and Mrs. Winthrop also, how earnestly your coming to us is ex- 
pected and desired. You will now receive some farther intelligence 
from Mr. Goodyear, concerning the iron-work, unto which there is 
a great forwardness among the people generally, which it seems is 
somewhat checked by your absence at this time. Sir, I thank you 
for the books you sent me to read, which I am diligently perusing. 
My wife took care of your apples that they may be kept safe from 
the frost, that Mrs. Winthrop might have the benefit of them. Now 
the Lord pave your way to us, and make your journey safe, comfort- 
able and prosperous; in whom I rest, 

Yours, exceedingly obliged, 

John Davenport. 

New Haven, the last of the Dth, '5-5, [30th Nov. 1655.] 

Sir, I forgat to give you notice, that my wife hath provided for 
Mrs. Winthrop a cleanly, thrifty maid servant, sister Beckley's 
daughter, whom she kept from a service at Connecticut, where she 
was much desired, in expectation of your coming. 

To his tcorthily much honored friend, John Winthrop, Esq., 
theae present in Peqvot. 

VI. 

Honored Sir, — A report that you was gone to the Bay, put me 
from my purpose of sending the enclosed, till I might certainly know 
where my letter might find you. I have now received intelligence 
by John Thomas, that you are at Hartford, and that Mrs. Winthrop 
hath been very ill and in great danger of her life, but is now, by the 
mercy of God, recovered. Blessed be his name for this mercy to her 
and to yourself and yours, in her recovery. But withal he saith that 
yourself are very ill, and have taken physic this day, and that he 
staid three hours to understand how it wrought, and is informed that 
it wrought well. This giveth us some ground of hope that God will 
graciously bless the means for restoring your health, whose life we 
account exceeding precious, and a blessing to many. He who hath 
given you a merciful heart to others in their sickness, hath promised 
that you also .shall obtain mercy. We are not wanting to you in our 
prayers, since we heard of your state, which was but this night ; nor 



373 

shall we cease from pra\iiig for 3'our life and liealtli, till we know 
that our petition is answered for your good. Be pleased to let us 
hear from you by the first opportunity, how it is with you. My wife 
desireth to send something suitable to your present condition, but 
knoweth not what till she hear further concerning you. At present 
she sends you a few fresh raisins, and a little licjuorice, and your own 
unicorn's horn, which she hath kept safe for you, since you sent it 
for Mrs. Eaton. My wife is ashamed to send so few raisins, but she 
hath no more so good. Were it not I am loth to trouble you with 
many lines, I should write much more concerning other matters, and 
particularly to return thanks for your mindfulness of me for a vent for 
some of my horses, by Mr. Adis, concerning which I hope to have an 
opportunity of speaking with you ere long. The Lord Jesus be with 
you, and bless means for your recovery. With presenting my service 
and my wife's and son's to Mrs. Winthrop and yourself, and our love 
to yours, I rest, sir, 

Your much obliged, 

John Davenport. 
New Haven, the 20th d. of tlieSth m. [July,] ]6'8. 

7\) the right worshipful John Winthrop, Esq., these present in 
Hartford. 

VII. 

Honored Sir, — We have, with longing desires, long expected your 
return with your family to your own habitation at New Haven, as 
accounting your dwelling among us a special favor from God, and a 
common good to all the people, especially in this sickly time, when 
many are afflictively exercised with gripings, vomitings, fluxes, agues 
and fevers, though more moderately in this town by the mercy of 
God, than at Norwalk and Fairfield. Young Mr. Allerton, who 
lately came from the Dutch, saith they are much more sorely visited 
there than these parts are. It is said that at Mashpeag, the inhab- 
itants are generally so ill that they are likely to lose their harvest 
through want of ability to reap it. Mr. Harbert, of Southold, is so 
ill at Manhadoes that there is little if any hope of his life. Brother 
Alsop is come from the Dutch with a purpose to have gone to the Bay 
before this time ; but the afflicting hand of the Lord hath stayed him 
by great illness, accompanied with a giddiness in his head, and much 
sleepiness and burning. It comes by fits, every other day. My wife 
giveth him this day a portion of your powder, whereof the supply that 



374 

you left in her hand is spent. The extremities of the people have 
caused her to part with what she reserved for our own family, if need 
should require. It hath pleased the Lord to preserve us hitherto. 
Yet my wife hath been, divers times this summer, and still is, vale- 
tudinarious, faint, thirsty, of little appetite, and indisposed sundry 
times, yet goes about, and is, between times, better and cheerful. 
* * Edmund is not well, yet goes about. The good Lord pre- 
pare us for all changes; that under all changes of providences, we 
may have suitable changes of spirit, to honor, serve, and please God 
therein ! Amen. 

Sir, I will not hide from you what is here reported ; though I can- 
not easily believe it, because I received no such intelligence at any 
time from yourself Timothy Nash saith he cannot understand from 
yourself, or from Mr. Winthrop, or from the people at Hartford, that 
you have any purpose of ever returning hither to dwell here. And 
Nath. Kiraberly saith from your own words, that you thought to have 
come to New Haven, but now you think you shall not see us this 
year. If it be so, we have cause to be sensible of a great loss to 
us, who have long comforted ourselves in hopes of enjoying you in 
a way of dwelling here, not only for the good that many may receive 
by God's blessing upon your endeavors for their health, but for your 
company, which for itself is precious and contentful unto us. If you 
would please to stock your farm, and to give order to have your land 
at New Haven improved, you might live comfortably upon that which 
is your own, in this place. The people here also would be ready to 
serve you with their labors, and to take hold of all good occasions of 
declaring their thankfulness, really, as they are bound to do, for your 
large and liberal helpfulness to them, — in distributing whereof my 
wife is but your hand, who neither receiveth nor expecteth any re- 
compense for that, but desireth that all acknowledgments and retri- 
butions may be returned to yourself 

Sir, it pleased you when I was exercised with that swimming diz- 
ziness, to send me a paper, Feb. 20, '57, containing in it certain 
portions of powder, which I never opened till this day, because it 
pleased God to release me from that distemper without it. And in 
perusing the letter you then sent, I find it commended as also useful 
for my other distemper in regard of the magisterium of corals which 
is in it. Hereupon I desire to know whether you will advise me to 
make use of it for that, though the dizziness, through God's mercy, 
hath not troubled me, since the spring began, unto this day. Ed- 



375 

ward Preston came lately from Long Islanrl, and saith many Indians 
there are very sick, and twelve were dead before his coming thence. 
My wife and son join with me in presenting our service to yourself 
and Mrs. Winthrop, and our loving salutations to your children. 
The Lord Jesus dwell with you in peace and loving kindness ! In 
whom I rest, Sir, 

Your exceedingly obliged, 

JouN Davenport. 
Now Haven, the 4lh d. of the 6th in. '58. [4th Aug. 16.38.] 

Sir, my wife desires a word or two of advice from you, what is 
best to be done for those gripings, and agues and fevers ; but she is 
loath to be too troublesome ; yet as the cases are weighty, she de- 
sires to go upon the surest ground, and to take the safest courses, 
and knoweth none whose judgment she can so rest in as in yours. 

To the right worshipful John Winthrop, Esq., these present in 
Hartford. 

VIII. 

Honored Sir, — These few lines are to congratulate your return to 
your family, as I hope in health, and to give you an account of my 
negotiation with ours about the iron-work, the issue whereof is ac- 
cording to your mind, as the enclosed to Capt. Clarke from our gov- 
ernor will show, which I send enclosed that it may more speedily be 
conveyed to him by land, than we can expect it will be by sea. The 
Lord also bless the intended marriage of your eldest daughter to Mr. 
Newman for many comforts to you both, and to your family, and 
to themselves ! Be pleased to present mine, my wife's, my son's, 
humble service to Mrs. Winthrop, together with yourself, with many 
thanks to her for her great kindnesses to us when we were at Hart- 
ford. In great haste, I must vianiim cle tabula. The Lord Jesus 
dwell with you and yours in peace and loving kindness ! In whom 
I rest, Yours obliged, 

John Davenport. 

New Haven, the 22d of the 8th, '58. [22d Oct. 1658.] 

To the right worshipful, his much honored friend, John Win- 
throp, Esq., these present in Hartford. 

IX. 

Honored Sir, — Though I have, together with the rest entrusted 
by you, subscribed our common letter, yet I shall add a few lines, as 



376 

mine own letter to yourself, to whom I am so particularly obliged, 
that I cannot omit to present my respectful salutations to yourself 
and Mrs. Winthrop, with many thanks for the intelligences I have 
received from you in several letters, and for the powders you sent to 
my wife, and for the Almanack, which I had not seen before, though 
since my receipt of yours, the president of the college sent me one. 
The author of it is wholly unknown to me, save by his name in the 
title page. In the next page, speaking of four eclipses this year, he 
may seem to some willing to be accounted sapientum octavus, utpote 
qui terrain planetarum octavam animo sua fingit, contra communtni 
astronomorum scntcntiam. For he saith, " Twice shall this planet 
whereon we liv^, and its concomitant, the moon, widow each other 
of their sun-derived luster." Now the place whereon we live is the 
earth, — the place, I say, not the planet. But he is not willing solus 
sapcre. Therefore for his four propositions he produceth in his last 
page sundry authors, who, he saith, 'have answered the objections 
from Scripture against this opinion. I have not read their answers. 
But if it be the brief or sum of them which he notes, it will not be 
found, upon an exact search, to be satisfying. However it be, let 
him enjoy his opinion ; and I shall rest in what I have learned, till 
more cogent arguments be produced than I have hitherto met with. 
Sir, your notion about letting your house to N. K. &-c., came to 
me wholly beyond my expectation. I did indeed expect (accord- 
ing to )'our promise, as I understood it) to hear from you, upon your 
return from the Bay, the result of your thoughts and purposes, and 
your resolution, whether to return to inhabit it with your family, and 
when, — or to sell it to the town ; who bought it that they might freely 
give it to yourself or put it into your power as your own upon what 
terms you propounded, (seeing you would not accept it upon free 
gift, because you would preserve your liberty to dwell in it as your 
occasions would permit.) But what they then did, and others stirred 
them up unto, I assure you was in respect to the common good which 
was hoped for and expected by all, from yourself dwelling among us 
with your family. Nor would they have taken such pay for it from 
any man in the country but yourself,* which I note that you may see 
their love to you, and desire of enjoying you among us. There are 
few houses vacant in the town, that are so fit as that for the enter- 
tainment of persons of public usefulness. Such men the town wants. 



* For an explanation of this allusion, see p. 326. 



377 

If yourself and yours dwell in it, it will satisfy all ; none will desire 
any other, and myself and mine will most rejoice therein. But if 
your other occasions will not permit that, this way of letting it unto 
such men will not be for your profit, nor for the town's satisfaction. 
Your house and lot hath suffered much hurt already, and will more, 
in this way ; and this town will lose their end, for they would never 
have let it pass out of their hands but in hope of enjoying yourself, 
which if they cannot obtain, I perceive it will in the next place, best 
satisfy them if you please to give them leave to buy it of you. I 
thought it my duty to signify thus much to yourself; aiid shall add 
only this to prevent misinterpretations, that as your house is your 
own, so all do grant that it is in your own power to do with it as you 
please. If you please to let it to N. K. &c. you may, only you may 
be pleased to remind that this is not that use of the house which will 
answer the townsmen's ends, and the town's expectation and neces- 
sities. With mine, my wife's, and my son's respectful and affec- 
tionate salutations and service, presented to yourself, and Mrs. Win- 
throp, and your branches, I rest, Sir, 

Yours, obliged, 

John Davenport. 
New Haven, the 18th d. of the 1st m. 1658-9. [18 Mar. 1659.] 

To his honored friend y John Winthrop, Esq., these present in 
Hartford, 

X. 

Honored Sir, — I received yours, both of the 24th of the 1st m. 
called March, and of the 8th of the 2d, called April, and have com- 
municated them both with the honored governor, &c., entrusted by 
you, and with the townsmen. All consent for returning many thanks 
to you for your love to us all, and to the town, so fully expressed 
therein, especially by your declaration of your unwillingness, yea, 
very unwillingness, to be separated from us, who have much more 
cause, and are really as unwilling to be deprived of your much de- 
sired residence among us with your family, at least sometimes as 
your occasions will permit, according to that liberty you was pleased 
to reserve unto yourself when you bought the house. The conclu- 
sion of our last conference was, that matters should stand in the 
state they are in, all resolution about disposing of the house should 
be suspended, till we might speak with yourself, which I am told, 
will be shortly. The sooner the better ; for we long to see you, and 

48 



378 

to speak with you mouth to mouth ; and some say that your house 
and orchard have suffered much by your so long absence. We hear 
that N. K. doth improve some of your land already ; so that there 
will be no inconvenience to yourself by this delay. We shall be 
glad if it may produce in yourself and Mrs. Winthrop, a resolution 
to possess and enjoy it yourselves, that so we may enjoy you. But 
of these things we shall speak more when we meet. In the mean 
time, and ever, the Lord Jesus delight over you and yours, to do you 
good 1 In whom I rest, Sir, 

Your much obliged, 

John Davenport. 

Myself, wife, and son, present our humble services, with most af- 
fectionate salutations to yourself, Mrs. Winthrop, and your children. 

New Haven, the 15th day of the 2d m., 1659. 

To the rigid loorsMpful and much hoiiored, John Winthrop, 
Esq., these 'present in Hartford. 

XI. 

Honored Sir, — Your quick departure from Hartford, after my 
son's return home from thence, denied me an opportunity of express- 
ing our due thanks for your loving entertainment of so bold a visiter, 
whereof he speaketh much, and yet is not satisfied with what he hath 
spoken, thinking it falls short of what he should speak, to express 
your and Mrs. Winthrop's kindness to him. Sir, you know that the 
afiections of parents are apt to sympathize with their children, and 
to take contentment in what they find to be justly pleasing and com- 
fortable to them. Hence it is that I desire to take this first overture 
for conveyance of these few lines in way of thankfulness from us, 
both to yourself (as I have already done to Mrs, Winthrop, by J. La- 
timer) for the same ; and to let you know that I have received a 
large letter from Mr. Blinman, dated Aug. 23, whereby I understand 
that God hath brought him to Newfoundland, in safety and health, 
and maketh his ministry acceptable to all the people there except 
some Quakers, and much desired and flocked unto. He hath made 
choice of a ship for Barnstable to his content, the master being godly. 
After these passages, and his notifying to me the lady Kirk's respect- 
ful and loving mention of me, whom, she saith, she hath heard in 
London, he addeth to what I had heard from England, that a fine 
of 5/. is put upon any that shall name the last protector. 2. That 



379 

the Lord Henry is sent for out of Ireland, and out of his place. 3. 
That four are sent from England, and four from France, and four 
from the States, to see whether they can compose matters between 
Swede and Dane. 4. That 30,000/. is demanded for the old pro- 
tector's funeral, which the parliament refused to pay. Some urged 
that those that had the mourning clothes should pay for them, that 
the commons might not be charged. 5. That the last protector was 
like to be apprehended for the debt, but withdrew ; whereupon the 
parliament gave him six month's liberty to come to terms with credi- 
tors. 6. That Mr. Hugh Peters is distracted, and under sore hor- 
rors of conscience, crying out of himself us damned, and confessing 
heinous actings. He concludes, " For the truth hereof, sit Jides pe- 
nes aiictoremy 7. That there is an ambassador gone for Spain. 
Lastly, That the fleet in the "West Indies have taken an almost in- 
credible mass of treasure in some Spanish towns there. Reported 
by a ship in the harbor where Mr. Blinman lies, that met a frigate at 
sea, going home for. I shall not add at present, but my desires for 
your safe journey to the Bay and speedy return to your family, and 
then to New Haven, — and my wife's, with our son's respectful and 
most affectionate salutations and humble service. 

Yours, exceedingly obliged, 

John Davenport. 
New Haven, the 28th d. of the 7th m. [28th Sept.] 1659. 

To the honored John Winthrop, Esq., governor of Connectieut 
colony, these present in New London. 

xn. 

Honored Sir, — John Palmer is not yet gone, whereby I have lib- 
erty to add a postscript to ray former letter upon new intelligence 
from Nichols of Boston, from Virginia, which I received after the 
enclosed was sealed. He saith that he came from Virginia the 23d 
of January, that there were 70* ships from England, which raiseth 
the price of tobacco to 12c/. per pound ; that a kw days before he 
came thence, there arrived some ships from England which came 
from thence six weeks before, that is, in the beginning of December. 
These ships bring word that the parliament was then sitting, and 

* The MS. being torn in this place, I will not be responsible for the cor- 
rectness of this incredible reading, though I can make nothing else of it. 



3S0 

matters in Scotland were in peace. There is some confirmation of 
the report of the lord Lambert's going forth with 20,000, to meet 
General Monk, from Scotland, with 20,000. The story runs thus 
in Sir Henry Moody's report, sent in his letter from Virginia to an 
Englishman, a captain, at Manhadoes. The Presbyterians, in Scot- 
land and England, flock much to General Monk, who now engageth 
himself for them and their interest, and is come forth upon that ac- 
count with the forenoted army as far as Worcester, whither General 
Lambert is gone with his army, to stop his proceedings. General 
Montague, it is said, is come to London, and complieth well with the 
parliament. Farewell. 

This afternoon the captain hath been with the governor, to excuse 
his not appearing at the court of magistrates, by his former illness in 
body, having a looseness and vomiting blood ; and his not sending 
his attorney, by his want of one. His surgeon would not. Philip Scot 
would not. But he conceals that he who took the prize was in his 
ship, who was most fit to have been sent to the court ; and forgets to 
excuse his refusal to yield to a sequestration of Mr. Raymond's goods 
till the cause were tried, though the governor sent the marshal to 
him with a warrant, for that end, and sundry other things. The 
governor is almost overcome with his fair words. But he speaks not 
a word of submitting his cause to their trial, yet seems willing to 
leave Mr. Raymond's vessel and goods in the court's hands, for part 
of security, and to bind his twelfth part in the ship for the other part 
of security, (which is as none, because it is not standing security,) 
that he will have it tried in England within twelve months, if Mr. 
Raymond will be bound and give security to prosecute against him. 
What the issue will be, a little time will shew. In the mean time, 
his spirit is somewhat lower in show than it was.* Again, farewell. 

The 22d d. of the 12th m. '59. [22 Feb. 1660.] 

To the rigid worshipful John Winthuop, Esq., governor of Con- 
necticut, these present in Hartford. 



* Tlie story of Capt. John Penny and the Roebuck, and his seizing the 
Black Eagle, a vessel belonging to Mr. Richard Raymond of Salem, and 
the trial of the question before the court of magistrates ; and how Capt. Penny 
was compelled to make proper acknowledgments for " the affronts he had 
offered the government here," — may be seen at largo in the colony re- 
cords. 



381 



XIIL 



Honored Sir, — Yesterday, Mr. Gilbert and Deacon Myles brought 
unto me a letter written by yourself to sergeant Whitehead, about 
your house, which, it seems, was an answer to a letter sent by I 
know not whom, nor when, to yourself, in the name of the towns- 
men, and with their consent, that they might purchase the house for 
the town. From Brother Herriman's discourse with my wife, I un- 
derstand that himself and Brother Wakeman had speech with you, 
to promove that motion. All this was done and written without my 
knowledge and my wife's and son's. They did not, nor any from or 
for them, make it known unto me in the least, that such a letter or 
message should be sent unto you. Two of the brethren who were 
not townsmen, spake with me formerly about their fear of losing the 
governor for want of an house, and propounded yours, concluding 
from your own words that you would not dwell here, though if there 
had been any ground of hope of the contrary, they would not have 
propounded it. This I add, that I may do them right. My advice 
was, that they would not send to you about it ; and to stay them from 
so doing, I told them that I heard you purposed to come hither 
shortly, (for so Daniel your man had reported,) and did think that 
they would wait for that. These things I thus particularly relate, 
that you may see that I had not the least hand in what they have 
done, nor consent to it, nor knowledge of it. When the forenamed 
showed me your letter, and enquired what I would do in reference 
to the power and trust you was pleased to commit to me about 
alienating your house, I told them, as I had said unto yourself be- 
fore, that I must desire to be excused from acting in that business, 
and did refuse it, and do still pray you to wave me in that employ- 
ment, who shall in other things deny you nothing that I am fit to do, 
if I may really pleasure you thereby. My son also hath refused to 
act in that matter. Had a letter been brought to us to subscribe, 
for inviting you to bring your family when you shall find a conven- 
ient time, and to come and dwell in your house, and the sooner the 
welcomer, &c., we should have signed that with both our hands. 
What is done I have not yet heard, therefore cannot give you ac- 
count of it. 

While I paused a little, having written thus far, I hear that the two 
mentioned in the first line have alienated your house. If it be so, I 
am heartily sorry, that what we have so many years desired and 



382 

hoped for, we shall be thus deprived of, viz. your neighborhood, 
which we do highly value, and therefore cannot but look upon our 
loss as exceeding great. My wife received Mrs. Winthrop's loving 
token, the sugar loaf she was pleased to send her, for which she re- 
turneth her many thanks, yet is sorry to have it from her, to whom 
she accounteth herself obliged otherwise rather to send unto her. 
With mine, my wife's and son's humble services to you both, and 
respectful and affectionate salutations to your daughters, commend- 
ing you both, and yours, unto the everlasting arms, I rest. Sir, 
Yours, exceedingly obliged, 

John Davenport. 

The 5th d. of the '2d. m. [April,] 1C60. 

We desire to receive some intelligence of your and Mrs. Winthrop's 
coming to us, whose house shall be as your own ; and you will much 
cheer us if you say we shall enjoy you here shortly. 

To the 7-igJit worshipful John Winthrop, Esq., Governor of Con- 
necticut colony, these present in Hartford. 

XIV. 

Honored Sir, — I received yours by Brother Benham, whom God 
preserved from being drowned in his journey homeward. The river 
by Mr. Yale's farm was swollen high; his wife was fearful of riding 
through it. God provided an help for her at the instant, by a pas- 
senger who traveled from Windsor to Branford to Mr. Crane's, whose 
daughter he had married. He helped Sister Benham over a tree. 
But her husband adventuring to ride through, a foot of his horse 
slipped; so he fell into the water, and his horse, as he thinketh, fell 
upon him or struck him wuh his foot, for he had a blow on his head. 
But through the mercy of God he is now well. This day, Mr. At- 
water, being at our lecture, speaks of a letter newly received from 
his wife, who writes her fears that she shall never see him again, 
doubting that he was cast away the last storm, whereby, she 
saith, sundry vessels about Boston have suffered much hurt, and 
some persons were cast away, and a ship also, if I mistake not, 
at Cape Cod. But God ordered things so, by his good provi- 
dence, that Mr. Atwater was then at New London in a safe harbor. 
Even now. Major Hawthorne and Mr. Richards are come from the 
Dutch. They are gone into the town to despatch some business, 
but will return to sup and lodge at my house. I do not yet know 
whether they purpose to return to Boston by land or sea, yet prepare 



3§3 

these lines, {71 omncm cvcntum, to send by them if they go by land, 
or by some other conveyance if I can hear of any. 

Sir, I thank you for my sight of Mr. Knowles' letter to Mr. Joanes. 
That which he speaks of a parliament in Scotland, I cannot receive. 
For I suppose England will not suffer it. I still hope that things in 
England are in an hopeful way. The Lord Jesus dwell with you in 
peace! Mine, my wife's and son's humble services are affection- 
ately presented to yourself and Mrs. Winthrop, with our salutations 
to your daughters. Having other letters to write, in answer to friends 
in the Bay, I am compelled to take off my pen, but shall always 
remain, Sir, 

Your exceedingly obliged, 

John Davenport. 

New Haven, the 13th of the 2cl, [April,] 1660. 

Mr. Price, of Salem, and his wife, present their services to your- 
self and Mrs. Winthrop, in a letter brought to me by Major Haw- 
thorne. They are importunately desirous to stay Mr. Higginson 
with them at Salem, for continuance, and in way of office. 

[Superscription torn off.] 

XV. 

Honored Sir, — This is the first opportunity presented to me of 
returning an answer to the two last letters I received from you. 
Brother Benham indeed (whose good and sweet-spirited wife the 
Lord hath taken from him since his return, — and a young child of 
one of his sons is since dead in his house, where also one of his 
son's wife lieth very weak) went to Hartford, but gave no notice of 
it beforehand that I might prepare a letter for him. Brother Myles, 
at his return from the Bay, comforted me with hope of your recov- 
ering strength. For he told us that you looked better when he re- 
turned, than you did when he went to the Bay. Our desire is fer- 
vent to see you and Mrs. Winthrop here, by the will of God, as soon 
as may be. I hope the change of air would hasten your recovery, 
aad the perfecting of your strength, by the blessing of God. For we 
are by the sea-side, and my house shall be as your own for your use. 
And to us it will be a singular refreshment and contentment to enjoy 
your presence and abode with us, as long as your occasions will per- 
mit. Be pleased to accept this serious and hearty invitation, and to 
answer it really, in coming to us and staying with us, that you may 
be refreshed with the sea-air, and we v.itli your sweet and much de- 



384 

sired fellowship. If you fear that you shall burthen us, be assured 
of the contrary, that we shall look upon it as a real testimony of 
your love and confidence in us, and in our love which is unfeigned 
towards both you and all yours, and as a most acceptable gratifi- 
cation of our earnest desire to enjoy you with us as long as we may. 
Myself, wife, and son, had been with you before this lime, if I durst 
have ventured upon such a journey, which yet I should have done, 
though with some hazard, if my coming might have been of any ne- 
cessary beneficial use to you. One day in the spring, I rode forth 
with our governor, to stir my body, and take the air, but when I re- 
turned home, though we had been out but an hour or two, [a detailed 
account of symptoms, in the course of which the writer says, " hot 
weather weakens and almost prostrates my spirits when it is extreme" 
— is omitted.] 

Sir, I humbly thank you for the intelligences I received in your 
letters, and for the two weekly intelligences which Brother Myles 
brought me, I think, from yourself, and which I return enclosed, by 
this bearer with many thanks. I did hope that we might have re- 
ceived our letters by Capt. Pierce before this time. But we have no 
news lately from the Bay. Brother Rutherford and Brother Alsop 
are both there ; so also is our teacher, Mr. Street. The two former 
I hope will return sometime the next week. Then probably we shall 
have some further news. The Lord fit us to receive it as we ought 
whatever it may be. Sir, I long to hear of your perfect recovery of 
health and strength, and to understand from you, that your purpose 
is to be with us shortly, and when we may expect your coming to us 
with Mrs. Winthrop, &c. In the mean time, and ever, the Lord 
Jesus dwell with you in mercy, and peace, and loving-kindness ; in 
whom I rest, Sir, 

Yours, exceedingly obliged, 

John Davenport. 
New Haven, the 20th d. of the 5th m. [July,] 1660.* 

To the right worshipful John Winthrop, Esq., governor of Con- 
necticut colon]/, these present in Hartford. 



* " On the 27th of July, [1660,] Capt. Pierce, a noted shipmaster in the 
trade between England and the colony, [of Massachusetts,] arrived and 
brought the news of the king's being proclaimed." Hutch. I, 210. Whalley 
and GofFe, the fugitive judges, arrived at Boston in Capt. Pierce's vessel. 
Well mi-'ht Davenport say in reference to the news which that ship might 
bring, " The Lord prepare us to receive it as wc ought, whatever it may be." 



385 

XVI. 

Honored Sir, — I perceive you have received from others the sad 
intelligence of the decease of our honored governor, my very dear 
and precious friend.* We hoped that he was in a good way of recov- 
ery from his former sickness, and were comforted with his presence 
in the assembly two Lord's days, and at one meeting of the Church 
on a week day, without any sensible inconvenience. And on the 
morning of the day of public thanksgiving, he found himself encour- 
aged to come to the public assembly. But after the morning sermon, 
he told me that he found himself exceedingly cold from head to 
toe, yet, having dined, he was refreshed, and came to the meeting 
again in the afternoon, the day continuing very cold. That night he 
was very ill ; yet he did not complain of any relapse into his former 
disease, but of inward cold, which he and we hoped might be removed 
by his keeping warm and using other suitable means. I believe he 
did not think that the time of his departure was so near, or that he 
should die of this distemper, though he was always prepared for 
his great change. The last day of the week he desired my son to 
come to him the next morning to write a bill for him to be prayed for, 
according to his direction. My son went to him after the beating of 
the first drum ; but finding himself not fit to speak much, he prayed 
him to write for him what he thought fit. When the second drum 
beat, I was sent for to him. But before I came, though I made 
haste, his precious immortal soul was departed from its house of clay 
unto the souls of just men made perfect. We were not worthy of 
him, a true Nathaniel, an Israelite indeed who served God in Christy 
in sincerity and truth. He honored God in his personal conversa- 
tion, and in his administration of chief magistracy in this colony ; 
and God hath given him honor in the hearts of his people. My loss 
and my son's, who took great contentment in his company, as he 
also did in his, is very great, and our grief answerable. But the 
public loss is far greater ; and answerably it is generally bewailed, 
God recompensing his faithfulness with his living desired, and dying 
lamented. It becomes us to lay our hands upon our mouths, yea, to 
put our mouths in the dust, remembering whose doing this is. Yet, 
in respect of means, I could wish two things ; first, that in his former 
sickness, he had wholly and only followed your directions ; secondly, 
that he had forborne coming forth that cold day. But God's coun- 

* The governor here spoken of, is Governor Newman. 

49 



386 

sels shall stand, whose will is the first and best cause of all things ; 
and the very errors of men shall serve to accomplish his purposes, 
who is holy in all his ways and righteous in all his works. 

Sir, what I wrote in my former letter concerning Mrs. Coglien, I 
had from Anthony Elcock, who received it in the Bay, viz. that she 
was discontented that she had no suitors, and that she had encoura- 
ged her farmer, a mean man, to make a motion to her for marriage, 
which accordingly he propounded, prosecuted, and proceeded in it so 
far that afterwards, when she reflected upon what she had done, and 
what a change of her outward condition she was bringing herself 
into, she was discontented, despaired, and took a great quantity of 
ratsbane, and so died. Fides sit penes auctorcm. Sir, I humbly 
thank you for the intelligence you was pleased to give me of an op- 
portunity of transmitting a letter for London, which is a thing that I 
earnestly desire, and do make bold to commit it to your own care, 
seeing you are pleased to give me that liberty, and hearing that the 
vessel is yet at Hartford. The letter is of great importance. The 
safe and speedy handing of it to Mr. Robert Newman will be a real 
advantage to me, and the miscarriage of it no small disadvantage. 
In which respect, if you conceive it will be more speedily and cer- 
tainly conveyed to him by this way than by the ship at Boston, I de- 
sire it may be sent accordingly with the more engagement for com- 
mitting it to a sure hand at Barbadoes, to be delivered to Mr. New- 
man in London, as the matter is of more consequence ; that an an- 
swer may be returned from him, by the first ship from London to 
Boston in the spring. Having thus opened the case, I crave leave 
to commit it wholly to yourself to take that course with it which you 
shall judge most suitable. I shall not add, but mine, my wife's and 
son's humble service to yourself and Mrs. Winthrop with our respect- 
ful and affectionate salutation to your son and daughters, praying the 
Lord to continue your life unto them, and theirs unto you, and to 
multiply his favors and blessings upon you and them through Jesus 
Christ ; in whom I rest. Sir, 

Yours, ever obliged, 

John Davenpokt. 

New Ilavcn, this 27tli d. of the 9th m. [November,] 1660. 

The miscarriage of a letter which I formerly sent to London by 
way of Barbadoes, makes me so desirous that this may not miscarry. 

To the right woi'shipful John Winthrop, Esq., governor of Con- 
necticut colony, these present in [Hartford.] 



3S7 



ADDITIONAL NOTICES. 



Many other particulars respecting the personal history of Daven- 
port might be gathered from the records ; but though such details 
have always a charm for the antiquarian, they might seem to the 
general reader, tedious and trifling. One incident however may be 
given here, as it is an additional illustration of his public spirit. 

On the 11th of August, 1GG2, Mr. Davenport informed the town, 
" that he having occasion by the providence of God to go into the 
Bay, and understanding that there are two merchants that are lately 
come from England, who have a desire to come to these parts," 
wished to be authorized by the town to make them some such pro- 
posals as might induce them to come to this place. " They are very 
godly men," he said, " and belong to a Church in England, and so 
have a desire to have a place to sit down together (as Brother Alsop 
reported, and Mr. Rutherford;) they only desire home lots, and it 
may be, some out lots." After some discussion it was suggested that 
" the neck" might be " the fittest place for them." Mr. Davenport 
then proposed the question whether the town would give up that 
tract of land to these strangers, on condition of their settling here. 
" For his own part, he had some land there himself, and he should 
willingly resign up his." He argued that these merchants " would 
bring shipping yearly from England hither, and so cause manufac- 
ture, which is necessary if we long subsist together." The proposal 
being favorably received, he " further propounded whether we should 
not consider them as coming from London, and not knowing the 
state of a wilderness condition, and therefore extend our thoughts 
farther than their desires, so as to accommodate them with land 
and meadow for cows, and also liberty for cutting fire wood, and 
timber for building, equal with others of the planters, which may be 
a great encouragement to them when they should hear our thoughts 
extend beyond their desires. All which he purposed to acquaint 
them withal when he understood the town's mind herein." The re- 
sult was a formal offer of "the neck," a tract of about six hundred 
acres, and of the other accommodations and privileges proposed. 

One of those merchants, a Mr. Bache, appears to have carried on 
business here for many years. He purchased of the town, the house 
in which Gov. Wiiithrop, and afterwards Gov. Newman, had resided. 
Of the other, I have discovered no traces. It may be that they 
were both of that class for whom it was safest, after the restoration, 
to leave England. 



388 

By the kindness of tliat diligent and accurate investigator, Rev. 
Joseph B. Felt, of Boston, I have been favored with a copy of the 
" inventory of the goods and chattels" of Mr. Davenport, taken by 
James Penn, Anthony Stoddard, and Thomas Clark, on " the 22d 
of the 5th mo. 1670." In this inventory, the property which the 
deceased left in New Haven has no place. The total of the inven- 
tory, as summed up on the record, including dwelling house and 
land, valued at ^400, and "one servant boy, .£10" is =£1240 18 lOl. 
The rooms named, are the hall, the study, the upper chamber, the 
kitchen chamber, the garret, the parlor, the kitchen, and the cellar. 
The plate is estimated at <£50. " Cheny [china] and earthern ware" 
at £5. " Pewter and tin ware" in the khchen, ^20. Every apart- 
ment named, except the study, the garret, the kitchen, and the cel- 
lar, has a bed in it. The inventory of things in the study is worth 
copying. 

"Books prized by Mr. John Oxenbridge, our pastor, and 
by Mr. James Allen, our teacher, as appeared to us 
by a note under their hands to the value of - £2:53 17 

A clock, with appurtenances, 5 00 

7 high chairs, 3 stools, a low chair, - - - - 3 00 

A skreen, four curtain rods, four boxes, - - - 2 00 

For wt. sugar, a little trunk, a box, - . - 1 05"* 

More than a thousand dollars worth of books, will seem like a 
large library, when it is recollected that New England was then far 
more of a new country than the western frontier is now. These 
books descended to the only son of the only son, the Rev. John Dav- 
enport of Stamford. One of the volumes, at least, which Davenport 



* The inventory of Mr. Street's estate on the New Haven probate records, 
shows a style of housekeeping quite inferior to liis colleague's. The entire 
estate, including £136 17 5, which belonged to his wife, (he had married 
the relict of Gov. Newman.) and which by the will was to be hers exclu- 
sively, was only £463 16. His books were valued at £46. His plate, in- 
cluding the "silver drinking bowl" and the "silver wine bowl," mentioned 
in his will, amounted, at 65. per ounce, to £6 9. From the catalogue of his 
household chattels as distinct from what were his wife's, it might be imagined 
that he escaped from the Plymouth colony in a somewhat impoverished con- 
dition. It is as likely, however, that some part of his property had been pre- 
viously distributed among his married children. The £71 12 6 in hard money 
wliich he had by him in tliose hard times, was a somewhat rare accumulation. 



389 

must have got in Holland, is in the library of Yale College. Some, 
I believe, still remain at the seat of the family in Stamford.* 

* The following catalogue of Davenport's published works is made out by 
comparing Wood, (Athenae Oxon.,) Mather, Allen, and Emerson, (Hist. 
of First Church in Boston,) and corrected in some instances by an inspec- 
tion of the works themselves. 

A Royal Edict for Military Exercises, puMishccl in a Sermon preached to 
the captains and gentlemen that exercise arms in the Artillery Garden, at their 
general vieeting in Saint .indreic's Under sltaft in London. London, 1629. A 
copy of this is in the Athnneum Library, Boston. 

Letter to the Dutch Classis, containing a just comjilaint (tgainst an unjust 
doer, S^c, 1634, quarto. This is a complaint against Mr. Paget's proceed- 
ings in the English Church at Amsterdam. 

Certain Instructions delivered to the Elders of the English Church deputed, 
which are to he propounded to the pastors of the Dutch Church in Amsterdam, 
1634. Wood calls it a quarto paper. 

1. A Report of some passages or proceedings about his calling to the English 
Church in Amsterdam; against John Paget. Quarto. 2. Allegations of Scrip- 
ture against the baptizing of some kind of infants. Quarto. 3. Protestation 
about the publishing of his writings. Quarto. These three "little scripts," as 
Wood calls tlieni, were all printed at Amsterdam in 1634. 

An Apologetical Reply to a book called ' an answer to the unjust complaint 
of W. B.' &c., quarto. Rotterdam, 1636. A copy of this is among the 
books deposited by the Old South Church in the Library of the Mass. His- 
torical Society. 

Profession of Faith made jniblicly before the Congregation at his admission 
into one of the Churches of JVeto England ; containing twenty several lieads. 
1. Concerning the Scriptures, &c. London, 1642. One sheet, quarto. 

The Messiah is already come. A sermon on Acts ii, 36. London, 1653. 
Quarto. I suspect that this is the same with the work next named. 

The Knotcledge of Christ, &,i-c., zchercin the types, prophecies, genealogies, 
miracles, humiliation, &,-c. of Christ are opened and applied. Quarto, printed 
in 1658, or before. 

Catechism containing the chief heads of the Christian religion. London, 
1659. Octavo. Published at the desire and for the use of the Church of 
Christ in New Haven. Wood says that Mr. Hooke had a hand in this work. 
The Saints' Anchor-hold, in all stoi-ms and tempests, preached in sundry ser- 
mons, and published for the support and comfort of God's people in all times 
of trial. London, 1661. Duodecimo. See p. 123. 

Another Essay for investigation of the truth, in ansiccr to tioo rjtiestions, &c. 
Cambridge, 1663. Quarto. The only copy of this work which I have been 
able to find, belongs to the library of the Rev. Thomas Robbins, D. D., of 
Rochester, Mass., to whom I am much indebted for the use of it. 
Election Sermon, at Boston, 1669. 

God's call to his people to turn unto him, &c., in two sermons on two pub- 
lic fasting days in New England. London, 1670. Quarto. 



390 

The foiccr of Congregational Churches asserted and vindicated ; in ansicer 
to a treatise of Mr. J. Paget's, entitled, ' The Defense of Church Government 
exercised in Classes and Synods.' London, 1672. Duodecimo. A copy of 
tliis is found in the Library of Harvard University. 

A Discourse about Civil Government in a new jdantation ichose design is 
religion. Cambridge, 1673. Quarto. 

He was also the author of a Latin Epistle to John Dury on the Union of 
Protestant Churches. 

A long letter from him to Major General, afterwards Governor, Lcverett 
of Boston, is among the documents published by Hutchinson in his third 
volume. 

He also wrote several commendatory prefaces to other men's works, 
among which, Mather mentions an epistle before Scudder's Daily Walk, as 
worthy to be reckoned itself a book. 

He also left ready for publication an Exposition of the Canticles, which 
was never published, though arrangements for printing it were commenced 
in London. 



591 



No. XII. 



MADAM NOYES. 



The following sketch is from "a Sermon, occasioned by the 
death of Mrs. Abigail Noyes, relict of the late Rev. Joseph Noyes," 
&.C,, " dehvered, the Lord's day after her decease by Chauncey Whit- 
telsey," &c. 

" She was truly a gentlewoman of distinguished eminence among 
us ; the people of this place, especially of this Church and society, 
almost universally knew her worth, and justly esteemed her one of 
the best of women. She was descended from very reputable and 
worthy ancestors, and had an advantageous education, and it 
pleased the Father of mercies, from whom comes every good and per- 
fect gift, to endow her with superior talents and accomplishments. 
Her knowledge, especially in the Scriptures, and in the doctrines of 
the Christian religion, was very extensive and accurate. She had a 
delicate mind, and in wisdom and prudence she excelled ; but her 
richest, brightest ornament, was a Christian spirit, and an exemplary 
Christian walk and conversation. 

" The things of God and religion lay with the greatest weight upon 
her mind ; this appeared from the whole tenor of her conversation, 
and particularly under the sore trials which she underwent when 
much overborne, (as she repeatedly was,) with religious melancholy. 
For when at such times she questioned her own integrity, she discov- 
ered the deepest concern, and was at seasons in mere anguish of 
spirit, not so much because of her own dangerous estate, as from an 
apprehension of the dishonor she did or might do to God, and to the 
Redeemer. 

" The interest of Christ's kingdom lay near her heart, the ad- 
vancement of which she attempted, not only by prayer to the God 
of all grace, but also by her serious, instructive discourse, man- 
aged with admirable pertinency and discretion, according to the con- 
dition and character of different persons; and by many little projec- 
tions, judiciously formed and executed. For to do good appeared to 
be her study and delight. Who among us but could testify of her 
savory, religious conversation, when 'she opened her mouth with 
wisdom, and on her tongue was the law of kindness?' 



392 

" She highly prized the public worship of God, and the ordinan- 
ces of his house ; and acted with honor in the several relations that 
she sustained as a wife, a parent, a sister, and a friend. As she ad- 
vanced in life, she appeared to grow in grace, and was more and 
more engaged to do good. She was especially concerned for the 
education of children, and the good of the rising generation; ac- 
cordingly she herself kept a free school in her own house for a con- 
siderable time toward the latter part of her life, and by her will, laid 
a foundation for the instruction of poor children, yet unborn. Du- 
ring the last year of her life, her faith and patience, her piety and 
goodness, has shone forth with peculiar and (I was ready to say, 
from every opportunity of conversing with her and observing) with 
increasing lustre : and it pleased God to purify her, and ripen her 
for glory by some peculiar dispensations. 

" It is now almost a year since it was the divine pleasure to take 
away from her (and from us!) her only son, lovely in the eyes of all, 
and especially dutiful and tender to her. How were her friends then 
apprehensive, that she would sink down under the infirmities of old 
age, and the pressures of that sore affliction ! But she bore the shock 
at the time, and has sustained the loss ever since, to the day of her 
death, with surprising steadiness of mind and Christian fortitude. 
I have often thought that the supports of divine grace appeared in 
her more conspicuous than in any instance I ever saw. Truly it 
appeared, that ' her heart was fixed, trusting in the Lord.' By that 
aflliction she was tried and purified like gold that hath passed 
through the furnace. But God was pleased after this, to ripen her 
more fully for glory, by another remarkable incident. Some months 
before she died, she was by a sudden disorder brought even to the 
valley of the shadow of death ; but when she appeared to be just 
expiring, and the blaze was, for an instant, parted from the lamp, 
God said, return. She revived. This event she regarded and im- 
proved as an admonition from her heavenly father. Accordingly, 
from this time she appeared to live more above the world, and to be 
more engaged in doing good, especially to the souls of those with 
whom she was concerned, standing daily in actual readiness for her 
departure. 

" In one word, she has been long a bright ornament to this 
Church, and a great blessing to this place ; to her have those words 
been often applied, ' Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou 
excellcst them all.' But she has finished her conrse, and we doubt 
not, now inherits the promises." 



393 



No. XIII. 

DR. DANA's installation. 

Appended to Dr. Dana's sermon, at his own installation, is the 
confession of faith, if so it may be called, addressed by him to the 
installing council. 

" 3Ir. Moderator, — Most of the members of this venerable coun- 
cil have been well acquainted with my religious sentiments for many 
years. A free communication of them on this occasion may, per- 
haps, be desired by some, and not be disagreeable to any. 

" The eternal existence and infinite perfections of God are man- 
ifest from the frame of nature. The priori argument is either in- 
conclusive, or unnecessary, or too high a road for the comprehension 
of an ordinary intellect. The other is level to every mind, and con- 
vincing as soon as proposed. 

" The divine unity is apparent from unity of design in the works 
of nature, and from the contradiction implied in the supposition of 
two or more infinite beings. One such being could produce all the 
phenomena of nature. That there should be two or more, would 
be to suppose an unnecessary deity or deities — a sentiment repug- 
nant to absolute perfection. 

" The natural government of God is evident from the conservation 
of all things and uniform course of events. His moral perfections 
and administration appear from the moral nature of man, from ob- 
servation of the administration of providence, and apprehension of 
the future consequences of virtue and vice. God cannot, therefore 
be the efficient of moral evil. He that committeth sin, and he only, 
is the efficient cause or author of it. Goodness (implying perfect 
wisdom and rectitude) appears to be the divine plan — a plan appa- 
rently pursued in the present state. The completion of this plan 
being reserved to a future state, the elucidations of eternity must 
explain the present seeming irregularities of providence. I can 
neither approve nor understand the reasoning of those who under- 
take to solve all objections on this subject. 

" A being of infinite perfection could not make creatures wicked ; 
nor withdraw his influence from his creatures but in consequence of 

50 



394 

Iheir forsaking him. The original rectitude and present apostacy of 
mankind must therefore be maintained. Whence moral evil sprang, 
or how the liberty of finite agents consists with the infinite know- 
ledge of God, I do not find that the Scriptures have explained, and 
therefore excuse myself from attempting an explanation. That sin 
is in the world, and that man in particular is a free and accountable 
agent, are not matters of speculation, but of fact and experience. 
Our speculations must yield to practical principles, not these to those. 

" Revelation, Christianity in particular, I admit on the authority 
of the revealer. Human faith and divine agree in this, that each is 
founded on testimony. They differ in this, that the former is found- 
ed on the testimony of man, the latter on the testimony of God, which 
is greater. Signs and wonders, miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, 
proved that the Scriptures were the word of God. To deny the pos- 
sibility of miracles, is to deny the possibility of a revelation, these 
being the confirmation of it. One miracle at least was necessary to 
prove Christianity to be true ; even the resurrection of Jesus. And 
this indeed proved it beyond contradiction. Admitting this, there 
can be no objection to the admission of the other facts of Christian- 
ity. The apostles were competent judges whether Jesus rose from 
the dead. If competent judges, they were also competent witnesses. 
They were as credible witnesses as they were competent. They 
testified the resurrection in plain and unadorned language, as hon- 
est men would declare any common fact — testified it amidst poverty 
and ignominy, persecution and death. Had there been fraud, it 
must have been detected. They themselves wrought miracles in 
confirmation of their testimony. Those who saw the miracles of the 
apostles, but saw not Jesus after he rose from the dead, had the au- 
thority of miracles for their faith in his resurrection. The apostles 
themselves really believed the resurrection, because they died for 
their opinion. This being a matter obvious to sense, in judging of 
which, persons of the meanest capacities could not be deceived, the 
resurrection must doubtless be true, if they believed it. 

"The original confirmation of Christianity was sufficient for after 
years ; but the fulfilment of prophecy has been an additional and 
perpetual confirmation. Its extensive propagation, surprising suc- 
cess, and present existence, all circumstances considered, further 
prove this counsel to be of God. The testimonies of Jews and heathen, 
as well as of Christians, establish the facts. The doctrine of this 
religion, its moral precepts, the example of its author, its sanctify- 



395 

ing influence, and the conversation of its true disciples, all concur 
to prove it divine. I am therefore settled in the belief of it. 

" The peculiar titles, attributes, and prerogatives of God are 
claimed by, and given to, the author of this religion. Such as. 
The Almiglity ; I am that I am ; the same yesterday, to day, and 
forever; I am he that scarchcth the hearts and reins. All things 
icere created hy him, and for him, and by him all things consist. 
His divinity and humanity are thus declared by St. Paul : God was 
manifest in the flesh. All the angels worship him. We are com- 
manded to honor him even as wc honor the Fcdhcr. 

"The scriptures are express in giving the appellation of God to 
' the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,' and in declaring that ' these 
three are one.' But great is the mystery of godliness. 

"The imputation of the offense of the first Adam, and of the 
righteousness of the second, appear to me to be the doctrine of St. 
Paul ; though I do not suppose that either implies a transfer of per- 
sonal qualities. I view the atonement of the Mediator as the object 
of justifying faith. I consider faith as the general condition or qual- 
ification of the gospel, involving a principle of holiness; so that the 
subject of it submits to the yoke of Christ, is filled with the fruits of 
righteousness, and patiently continues in well doing, Grace and the 
atonement are exalted when the sinner is humbled, and from being 
the servant of sin, becomes the servant of righteousness. 

"The doctrine of the necessity of a special divine influence to 
beget and maintain saving faith, I esteem one of the doctrines and 
glories of the gospel, intimately connected with the atonement, and 
without which, Christ must have died in vain. 

" The Scriptures (so far as I have learned them) give us no ex- 
ample of a final falling from grace. Believers are kept by the power 
of God, who performs his own work until the day of Jesus Christ. 

" Faith, as the apostle teacheth, cometh by hearing — by the word 
of God. This word is the medium of regeneration. A prepara- 
tory work of grace, the conduciveness of the means to effect the 
end of religion, I do not once question. There are, as T suppose, 
many unprofitable, unscriptural, and dangerous speculations on the 
state of the unregenerate, the use of means, moral agency and hu- 
man endeavors — speculations which have contributed greatly to the 
spread of skepticism and infidelity. None more so than the doc- 
trine of the greater enmity of sinners in proportion to their illumi- 
nation, and present solicitude about their spiritual interests ; con- 



396 

nected vvitli which, is the blasphemous opinion of God's being the 
cause of moral evil. 

" Some make it a term of salvation that a person be willing to be 
damned. Were the thing possible, which this opinion supposeth, I 
see not but the damnation of such persons would not only be just, 
but inevitable. 

"Baptism is the only form of admission into the Christian church ; 
nor do I find either precept or example in scripture for professing the 
faith of our Lord Jesus a second time, as a term of communion at 
his table. It is agreed that there is but one covenant, one faith. 
In the churches where the practice of owning the baptismal cove- 
nant obtains, there is no objection to the admission of the person 
covenanting, to full communion. The objection is only in his own 
mind. This practice was introduced in condescension to tender 
consciences. 

" Mr. Moderator, the time permits me only to suggest my senti- 
ments in a general way on the doctrines and evidences of religion. 
I acknowledge no other than the protestant rule of faith, the bible. 
My aim is to preach the word." 

President Stiles in his Literary Diary, noticing " the installment of 
Dr. Dana, bishop of the First Church in this city," says, " This was 
a critical transaction, as it involved some reference to the old Wal- 
lingford controversy of 1758, when Dr. Dana was ordained." Under 
a later date he refers again to the installation for the sake of introdu- 
cing the questions which Dr. Dana proposed to Dr. Edwards in 
reply to, or rather in retaliation for, the questions which Dr. Edwards 
had addressed to him. Dr. Dana's questions are as follows : 

" Is every idea and volition of the creature excited by the Creator ? 

" Can any being will and effect sin, and yet not will and effect 
the sinfulness of sin ? 

" Is God, or the creature, the efficient cause of the sinfulness of sin ? 

" Doth sinfulness consist in volition itself, or in the executio)i o^ 
volition ? 

" Is all the sinfulness that is, or ever was in the world, for the 
best? 

" Do those moral agents, whether men or devils, who have most 
exerted themselves in promoting this part of the moral plan, deserve 
commendation in proportion to such their exertions. 

"Ou£[ht we to give thanks for all the sins of men and infernals? 



397 

" Is the enmity of the unregenerate to God and holiness increased 
in proportion to their illumination and solicitude about the concerns 
of salvation? 

" Is it the duty of the unregenerate (continuing so) to pray ? Or 
have they any encouragement to pray ? 

" Are there any means of regeneration ? 

" Is the first offense of Adam imputed to his posterity ? 

" Was that offense our personal act ? 

" Is human depravity limited to any one faculty, or doth it extend 
to all the faculties '? 

" Is it a term of salvation, that a person he loilUng to he damned 1 
Or were Moses and Paul willing to be damned for the salvation of 
their people ? 

"Are such qualifications requisite to Christian communion, as 
none but the searcher of hearts can judge of? 

"Are all those points which are fundamental to one Christian, 
fundamental to all ? 

" Must we exclude from Christian fellowship all those who do not 
admit all the points that are fundamental to us ? 

"Hath any man, or body of men, authority from Christ to make 
any thing necessary to salvation and Christian communion which 
the Holy Ghost hath not clearly and expressly declared to be so, in 
Scripture? 

"May any man, or body of men, determine that their own inter- 
pretation is the certain and infallible sense of Scripture ?" 

Dr. Stiles adds, that he copied these questions " from the original 
paper which Dr. Dana had before him in his own handwriting in 
council, at the time of asking the questions, and from which he asked 
the questions. Dr. Edwards asked his questions also from a prepared 
paper, which he brought into the council, took out of his pocket, and 
used." 

Dr. Stiles subjoins two other questions which he says were on Dr. 
Dana's paper, but crossed, and he does not remember whether they 
were asked. 

" Is there a tendency in the means of grace to effect the end of 
religion ? 

" Doth the Spirit improve the word of truth as a means of regene- 
ration?" 

' It is not too much to say, that a manifest object of these questions 
was — as the object of such questionings and of theological controver- 



398 

sies too often is — to excite odium against supposed innovators in 
theology. If we had Dr. Edwards's questions addressed to Dr. Dana, 
it would not be strange to find them framed with a similar intent. 



MISCELLANEOUS CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS. 

The note on page 16, was added in a hasty moment, and contains 
an error. Trumbull (I, 251) gives the information, which I had 
forgotten, that one of the first acts of Connecticut after receiving 
the charter was, " that the same colony seal should be continued." 
The three vines appear to have been the arms of Connecticut, from 
the time when the three towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethers- 
field, were planted in that rich valley. 

The New Haven colony too had its seal, the device of which was 
left to the judgment of Governor Eaton, and which was received from 
England — a present from Governor Hopkins — when the printed 
laws were received in 1655. I have taken pains, but unsuccessfully, 
to find some traces of the armorial bearings of the New Haven col- 
ony. The device is probably one of the things lost on earth : 

" Nor ever more 
Herald or antiquary's patient search 
Shall from forgetfulness avail to save 
Those blazoned arms." 

In reference to the three vines, let me add from the same poet, 

" But oblivion ne'er 
Shall cancel from the historic roll ; nor time 
Who changeth all, obscure that fated sign." 

Another error which escaped a more seasonable correction, is in 
the word " polygonal" on page 208. The old meeting-house of 1668, 
was I believe quadrangular, with a pyramidal roof, of which the apex 
was surmounted with a belfry. I have seen those who remembered 
it ; though I know not that any such person is now living. The 
bell-rope came down into the middle of the broad aisle ; and if my 
recollections do not deceive me, the stairs mounting to the galleries, 
were on the outside of the building. 

I find another slight error on page 256. The Episcopal Churches 
in New England were opened before the close of the revolutionary 
war. In the autumn of 1778, the bishop of London sent over an 



399 

order to the clergy under his government in America, to open their 
Churches, and perform divine service according to the liturgy, omit- 
ting the prayers for the king and royal family. Dr. Hubbard ac- 
cordingly opened his Church in this city on the 20th of December, 
1778, for the first time after the declaration of independence. — 
Stiles's Lit. Diary. 

Some account of the dates of the several ecclesiastical edifices 
in New Haven, may be added here. 

The house of worship occupied by the first Church and Society, 
commonly called the Center Church, was erected in the years 1813 
and 1814, at an expense of about $34,000. It was dedicated on 
the 27th of December, 1814. 

The house of worship occupied by the Church and Congregation 
of the United Society, commonly called the North Church, and the 
Episcopal house of worship, called Trinity Church, were erected si- 
multaneously in the years 1814 and 1815, the former at an expense 
of about $30,000, the latter at an expense of about .$28,000. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church on the northwest corner of the 
public square, was erected in 1821. The walls and roof had just 
been finished, when by the great gale of September, 1821, they were 
laid prostrate to the foundation. It was immediately rebuilt. 

The Baptist Church was erected in 1824, and enlarged in 1837. 

The Church at the corner of Chapel and Union streets, was erect- 
ed by the Third Congregational Society in 1828 and 1829, at an 
expense of $18,000, including the land. 

The Episcopal place of worship, called St. Paul's Chapel, was 
also erected in 1828 and 1829, at an expense of about $17,000, in- 
cluding the land. 

The Congregational Church in Fair Haven was erected in 1829 
and 1830, at an expense of about $9,000. 

The Roman Catholic Chapel was erected in 1834. 

The Methodist Church in Fair Haven was erected in 1835. 

The Congregational Church in Westville was erected in 1835. 

The Free Church (Congregational) was erected in 1835 and 
1836, at an expense of about $10,000, including the land and the 
rooms in the basement. 

The Episcopal Church in Westville, St. James's Church, was 
erected in 1837. 



400 

Besides these, there is a convenient little edifice, occupied by the 
congregation of colored people in Temple street, and another in 
Westville, occupied by the Methodist congregation there. 

There are then in the town of New Haven, exclusive of the 
Chapel of Yale College, fifteen edifices, devoted to the use of as 
many religious assemblies. Several of these are very large and 
costly, and are among the finest specimens of Church architecture 
in New England ; generally they are neat and attractive ; and all 
of them are commodious and pleasant to the worshipers. 



The portraits which accompany this volume are of unquestionable 
authenticity. That of the venerable Davenport is from an ancient, 
and doubtless original picture, which has been long in the possession 
of Yale College, and which from a date on a corner of the canvass, 
seems to have been painted not long before his death. Of Mr. Pier- 
pont, an ancient portrait remains in the possession of his great grand- 
daughter, Mrs. Foster, of this city. This picture, before it falls to 
pieces, ought to be copied, and placed in the Trumbull Gallery. 
The portrait of Mr. Whittelsey, copied by the engraver, was painted 
by an artist named De la Noy, and is now in the possession of his 
daughter in this city. And the striking resemblance of Dr. Dana's 
most peculiar features, is from a miniature by Dickinson, now be- 
longing to E. Dana Comstock, Esq., of New York. 



